The Capialzado of the Court of the Lions

Opening hours: Every Saturday in November, at 12 noon.
Location: Room V, Museum of the Alhambra, Palace of Charles V.
The Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife presents the capialzado (a wooden lintel panel) of the Court of the Lions as piece of the month in the Museum of the Alhambra. Every Saturday in November, from 12:00 on, the art historian María del Carmen López Pertíñez will reveal details and specialties of this type of ornamentation. Although they are apparently simple, the capialzados show a complex and meticulous decoration and have been placed in the main areas of the Nasrid palaces.
The capialzados of the Palace of the Lions follow the common characteristics of works in the Alhambra under Muhammad V. The outstanding element of all these works is their eminently ornamental function; they were used to complete the decoration in the inside of door or window lintels or the soffit of struts.
In this particular case, the piece is part of an array which plays a special role in the gallery of the Alhambra. Various decorative compositions carved in these woodworks were repeated and mixed deliberately following a certain fixed pattern throughout the Court.