The Minister of Culture opens the exhibition ‘Lions, the restoration of a symbol’

The lions of the most emblematic court of the Alhambra “return” to the Nasrid Palaces, after three years in the Restoration Workshop of the Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife. From today on until October 31, 2011, the twelve lions from the Fountain of the Lions will be on display in the Crypt of the Palace of Charles V. In the meantime, the archaeological intervention in the famous court, undertaken by the Conservation Department of the independent body, will come to a close. This morning, the exhibition was opened by the Regional Minister of Culture, Paulino Plata, accompanied by the Director of the Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife, María del Mar Villafranca.
The exhibition ‘Lions, the restoration of a symbol’ offers the visitors the opportunity to contemplate these unique Nasrid sculptures together with a reading area and five videos, located at the little chapels surrounding the Crypt of the Palace of Charles V, containing different educational topics: Water lions: Graphic record of the transformation of a fountain (1668–1976); The restored lion; De-installation and transport of the lions; The restoration process; The poem of the Fountain of the Lions, which shows Ibn Zamrak’s epigraphic poem of the Fountain of the Lions, read out in Arabic and translated into Spanish by Jose Miguel Puerta Vílchez, who holds a Ph.D. in Arabic Philology.
The itinerary of the exhibition is circular and a maximum of 60 visitors are allowed to enter the Crypt at the same time. For a closer look at the exhibition, the Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife offers guided tours, a service within the Program Education in the Alhambra, as well as explanations by the general audio guides for the monument.