The Royal Canal

The Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife presents the Acequia Real (Royal Canal) as piece of the month in the Museum of the Alhambra. Every Saturday in April, from 12:00 on, the art historian José Domingo Lentisco will reveal details and specialties of this engineering structure. The Acequia Real has made the Sabika-Hill habitable. It is probably one of the most unnoticed elements by the visitors, maybe for being blinded out by the majestic Nasrid Palaces.
Nevertheless, the use of water has been manifold, in palaces, baths, mosques, houses, cisterns, fonts or fountains, gardens, construction, farming, craftwork, etc. The Acequia Real was supplied with water 11 km upstream from here, in the Darro-River, from where it was conducted crossing the northern side of the Cerro-del-Sol-Hill to the Palace-City. In its course it passed by and irrigated the orchards of the Generalife.
The stretch of the canal preserved in the Museum of the Alhambra is nearly the only intact remaining trace of what way back has been the fountain of life for the residents. In the talk, visitors will learn how the Alhambra was supplied with water, the different periods of materials and how they have been recycled, the connection with town planning and the impact of the construction of the Palace of Charles V on the canal, the old construction techniques as well as most recent information provided by recent archaeological excavations carried out at the access to the canal by the Torre del Agua (Water Tower).
Those who come to the event to get to know the piece of April will find an exceptional archaeological window as an example for an intelligent solution for the assessment of the variety of heritage of the Alhambra and the Generalife.
Opening hours: Every Saturday in April, at 12:00 noon.
Location: Room II, Museum of the Alhambra, Palace of Charles V.