The transformation of the roofs and ears of the Patio de los Leones of the Alhambra from the mid-19th century to the beginning of the 20th century

Abstract

From the second half of the 19th century onwards, the roofs of the galleries and pavilions of the Court of Lions in the Alhambra underwent a series of significant transformations. Over a period of six decades and in a concatenated manner over time, certain aesthetic changes were made to these roofs and their eaves system that have partly survived to the present day, constituting the current image of these roofs. The authors of these changes in the essence of these elements, which are popularly known through numerous photographs and texts of the time, sought to be aligned with the trends of the romantic historicisms, but they reinterpreted incorrectly the nasrid architecture producing a series of alterations in all these structures that had not been analysed in detail until now.