Hur Alhambras arkitekter iakttog proportionaliteten
Här följer två bilder som visar proportionerna i byggnaden för att åstadkomma jämvikt och harmoni:
The Complex Geometry of the Al-Hambra
The Al-Hambra is clearly an abode of beauty; - but it
is far more than just a beautiful building. There is a
specific reason why it feels so harmonious. The men
who built it had a knowledge of complex geometry which
originated in the ancient world.
The first man to set down these mathematical
principles was the Greek philosopher Pythagoras. He
saw numbers everywhere in the universe, but his
brilliance was to understand the importance of the
ratio between them.
Professor Antonio Fernandez-Puertas from the University of Granada has spent his whole life studying the Al-Hambra. He has discovered that the whole of the building from the ground plan to the wall-decoration is based around one single ratio:
1.
He explains:
"I think everything is so perfect because everything
is under the control of the proportion, and so very
simple. You notice that there is something magic about
these buildings; there is something marvellous in the
surroundings.
It is the relationship between the ground and the elevations of the buildings, it is as simple as that.
The king ordered a new palace but he had a limited area to build the palace. To the West and South he was limited, and then he did something ingenious and beautiful."
The king of Granada asked his architects to harmonize each and every space within the palace according to a single set of proportions, a family of rectangles, each related to the other.
2.
"If you want to get a proportional rectangle, you have the same base, then take the diagonal, put it up, and you get successive proportional rectangles."
The key to the Al-Hambra design is the simple relationship between the side of a square and its diagonal. If we use the diagonal to draw a rectangle, and then the diagonal from that rectangle to make another, we get a progression of rectangles. The forth rectangle is double the size of the first, and the diagonals in this sequence are in fact the square-roots of 2, 3, 4 and 5; a magical sequence.
3.
Every part of the intrecate network of spaces, all of
the courtyards, all the hallways, the placement of
every column, was designed, using inspired variations
of this proportional system.
4.
"Proportion is also in the elevation, for example in
the kiosk, here you build a square and with the
diagonal - you swing it up."
5.
Nothing violated this incredibly elaborate system. The
Al-Hambra is a triumph of mathematics as much as it is
of ethetics. Mathematical ingenuity is the root of its
beauty.
6.
But noone talks about this, everyone looks at the
Al-Hambra just as an ethetic experience.
"When you go to a concert, and you listen to Mozart,
you listen to Beethoven or to Verdi, and perhaps you
don't know the intrecate secrets of music, but you
notice that there is something magic, the same thing
happens here in the Al-Hambra, you can feel it.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Tagen från videon:
When the Moors Ruled in Europe
| this episode begins at 07:00 min from start |
(This documentary describes the glorious rule of Muslim Moors in what is now Spain. A forgotten history is remembered.)
bilder index