Torre
de la Justicia

TOWER OF JUSTICE

A space for enjoyment of the arts where words and music are the star attractions. Admission is free although numbers are limited.

The Tower of Justice has been one of the main entrances to the Alhambra complex ever since it was built in 1348 during the reign of Yusuf I. It has a rectangular floor-plan, two storeys and a roof-terrace and forms part of the ancient walls of the palace city, along with 26 other towers.

It was the official residence of the gatekeeper of the Alhambra from the conquest of Granada by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1492 to its occupation by Napoleonic troops in 1810. Soon afterwards the Tower again became the house of those responsible for guarding the monument. In the last decade of the 19th century and the early 20th it was used for administrative purposes, and occasionally as a residence, before finally acquiring a cultural function as the depository for part of the legacy of the Duque de Loring and for the donations made in 1909 by the Conde de Romanones, which formed the basis for the Alhambra Library collection.

READING AREA AND “MUSIC BOX”

This emblematic space offers an unusual facility for visitors: as a reading area and as a “music box”; a place for enjoyment of the arts, where words and music are the star attractions.

This initiative harks back to the Romantic Alhambra, an inspiration and meeting-place for numerous musicians such as Ángel Barrios, Manuel de Falla, Isaac Albéniz… Music for guitar and piano, instruments that have always had a place here and are now coming back as a specific hallmark of the Alhambra, an Alhambra for artists!

OPENING TIMES: every Saturday from 10.00 to 14.00 (except as below in this page). Free admission.

In the various rooms open to the public there is a small collection of reference books, publications of different kinds, records and music scores for all ages and in various different languages of editions published by the Council of the Alhambra or linked to the monument. All the materials in the Tower are available for consultation in situ and most can also be borrowed (for a maximum of two weeks), after registering as a user of this branch. This can be done quickly and easily at the Tower itself during the opening hours indicated above.

Those people with sufficient musical skill and the confidence to perform in public may apply to play at the Tower. For more information please click here.

For those people interested in visiting the Tower in order to use it as a “music box”

, we inform: it may be that during your visit, you will find a musician playing there (as described in the previous paragraph). However, musical activity cannot be guaranteed under any circumstances given that it depends on applications from musicians, as explained above. Exceptionally, it will take place cycles and other activities for concrete dates. All current information will be properly published at this homepage.