The Alhambra is opening a new digital window on the world with its magazine ALH. This is an innovative digital project that is destined to become “the voice of the Alhambra for the 21st Century” and one of the great tools for the “promotion of our Heritage”. This morning the Director of the Alhambra Group of Monuments, María del Mar Villafranca, presented this project and explained that “New technologies have opened up new horizons which we need to explore. From now on the Monument will have two magazines: Cuadernos de la Alhambra and ALH which will allow us to reach different audiences through different channels”.
ALH the Alhambra Magazine is the first digital publication launched by a Spanish public institution and uploaded to the Apple Store, one of the world’s biggest platforms for the promotion of culture, art and knowledge. The first issues will be distributed free and it is now available for download at a “news-stand” opened specially to house each of the editions that the Council of the Alhambra and Generalife will be publishing in the near future (four a year).
The magazine will be published in two languages: “Today we are presenting the first issue in Spanish and we will soon be publishing the English edition. iPad users can download a publication that combines the best of traditional print-format magazines, enhanced with dozens of new tools that will make reading ALH a fascinating new experience, in which sound will play a leading role” explained César Hernández, the magazine’s editor.
ALH aspires to become one of the Council of the Alhambra and Generalife’s main communication tools, especially in terms of internationalization. In Villafranca’s opinion this is “a periodical organized like a traditional magazine to which videos, animations and interactive features have been added, so applying the latest technologies to increasing electronic mobility. And all of this, with a different design, high quality content and previously unpublished images of the Alhambra group of monuments”.
Initially, ALH, the Alhambra Magazine will be published twice a year. These two issues will also be accompanied by two monographic issues on all the latest topics (exhibitions, shows, conferences, projects and architectural interventions…). Each issue can be downloaded onto the iPad from the App Store free of charge during the first year. Once downloaded, the reader will enjoy a unique visual experience.
Issue Number 1 of ALH the Alhambra Magazine is devoted to the restoration of the Court of the Lions, one of the most ambitious projects undertaken by the Council of the Alhambra and Generalife in recent years. Most of the magazine is taken up with a detailed review of the restoration work and includes reports filmed specifically for the magazine, in which specialists describe the process of restoring one of the Monument’s most important palace spaces.
The section entitled “Conversations in the Alhambra” invites the reader to discover the Puerta Nueva (New Gate) project for the design of a new entrance pavilion for reception and welcoming of visitors to the monument, a product of the dialogue between its two creators: the prestigious architects Álvaro Siza and Juan Domingo Santos. This is followed by an extensive report on the Rodriguez-Acosta Foundation entitled “From the Castle to the White Mansion”, a space which can now be visited by purchasing a special ticket offering combined admission to both the Foundation and the Alhambra.
The magazine then invites the reader to enjoy many of the sensations that the Alhambra arouses. Storm on the Alhambra is a time-lapse in which eight hours of filming are condensed into less than two minutes’ viewing time. In each of its general issues ALH will also have a number of regular sections in which readers can find out more about some of the most valuable artworks kept at the Alhambra. It will also have sections on books and music, a virtual shop and a guide explaining how best to visit and enjoy the Monument.
According to María del Mar Villafranca, ALH Magazine is a “new tool which not only enables the public to find out about and enjoy the Alhambra but also makes it more accessible to all kinds of visitors”.
The magazine has been put together by a team of expert professionals whom the Council of the Alhambra and Generalife would like to thank for their hard work in bringing to fruition a project that also includes unpublished images and original music.
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