On the western tip of the Red Fortress and the oldest surviving section is the Alcazaba (“Al-Qasabah” or citadel in Arabic). The citadel is roughly triangular in shape, a tower at each vertices. It is also located at the highest elevation of the promontory and once served as a surveillance point for incoming marauders from rival Muslim kingdoms and Christian infidels.
These days it provides an incredible view of the Albaicin neighborhood and greater Granada.
Within the space occupied by the triangular fortification was once the barracks, command post, and living quarters for the soldiers that manned the Citadel. After the Reconquista of 1492, the area was transformed into a prison.
To reach the Alcazaba, visitors must pass through the fabled Puerta de la Justicia (the “Gate of Justice”).
“The great vestibule or porch of the gate is formed by an immense Arabian arch of horseshoe form, which springs to half the height of the tower. On the key-stone of this arch is engraven a gigantic hand. Within the vestibule on the key-stone of the portal is sculptured in like manner a gigantic key.
Tales of the Alhambra, Washington Irving
The Moorish king who built it was a great magician or, as some believed, had sold himself to the devil and had laid the whole fortress under a magic spell. By this means it had remained standing for several hundred years in defiance of storms and earthquakes, while almost all other buildings of the Moors had fallen to ruin and disappeared. This spell, the tradition went on to say, would last until the hand on the outer arch should reach down and grasp the key, when the whole pile would tumble to pieces and all the treasures buried beneath it by the Moors would be revealed.”
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