Rosa Aguilar inaugurates the exhibition at the Palace of Charles V devoted to the first Governor of the Alhambra

Rosa Aguilar, the Regional Minister of Culture, was in Granada today to inaugurate an exhibition devoted to the first Governor of the Alhambra, Íñigo López de Mendoza, made up of about 200 pieces some of which are on display for the first time in Spain. The exhibition entitled ‘The Tendillas, Lords of the Alhambra’, can be visited until 22nd May in the Palace of Charles V. During her speech, Aguilar emphasized that this exhibition “takes a look at the Count Tendilla and brings together 200 pieces that also teach us about the Alhambra itself”. In this context she remembered that “the Tendilla family were in charge of the monument for two and a half centuries” as a result of which she said that “the Alhambra we see today owes a great deal to the work done during that time”. Rosa Aguilar also stated that for this exhibition they have had access to “a great many items from the Alhambra’s own collection and also a number of very important loans” from various different institutions, which she said was “always to be thankful for and to acknowledge” in an exhibition which “will help us to understand the Alhambra and the current situation of this World Heritage monument, which is visited by more and more people every day”.
In this way the Alhambra is remembering its first Governor, Íñigo López de Mendoza (1440-1515), who was popularly known as the Great Tendilla and Marquess of Mondéjar, and all his successors. It pays tribute to one of the most influential families of the time, who were responsible for the conservation of the monument as a Royal House from the 15^th to the 18^th century.
Curated by the Head of the Department of History of Art of the University of Granada, Professor Rafael López Guzmán, the exhibition organized by the Council of the Alhambra and Generalife in collaboration with Spanish National Heritage, the National Library, the University of Granada and the Ballesta Foundation, is made up of almost 200 pieces including interesting administrative documentation, exceptional paintings such as the 16^th Century Portrait of Diego Hurtado de Mendoza by Titian, on loan from the Gallery of the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, which is being shown in Spain for the first time. The exhibition also includes architectural plans of the Palace of Charles V from the 16th century, a collection of mediaeval and Renaissance weapons and household and other objects from the 17th century. The institutions who have lent pieces for this exhibition include the Prado National Museum, the gallery of the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, Spanish National Heritage, the Museum of America, the Simancas Archive, the National Historical Archives, the National Library, the Carlos Ballesta Foundation, the General Archives of the Administration, Seville Cathedral, the Archdiocese of Granada, the Granada Fine Arts Museum, Guadalajara City Council, the Complutense University, the University of Granada and the University of Salamanca.
The most impressive pieces include some from the collection of the Museum of the Alhambra itself, which have never been on display before. These include for example a pack of cards, perhaps one of the oldest surviving in Spain; small olambrilla tiles with figurative motifs or the Renaissance ceiling that was installed in part of the Mexuar Palace and which was one of the first of its kind in Spain. Some excellent pieces have also been lent by the Instituto Valencia de Don Juan.
‘The Tendillas, Lords of the Alhambra’ is divided into four sections. The first section entitled “The Mendoza family – men of arms, the cloth and letters” presents the different members of the Mendoza family who were leading figures in literature such as the Marquess of Santillana; and well-known soldiers, politicians and priests such as Cardinal Mendoza and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, the Archbishop of Seville. Other influential people who lived parallel lives to Count Tendilla, such as Cardinal Cisneros or the first Archbishop of Granada, Fray Hernando de Talavera, also appear.
The second section of the exhibition focuses on El Gran Tendilla: don Íñigo López de Mendoza y Quiñones and illustrates through representative objects such as his letters and other audiovisual displays, his various facets as a man of arms, a politician, a diplomat and a patron of the arts, who lived in Granada alongside other important figures of his time such as Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, the Great Captain; Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar y Mendoza, Marquess of Cenete, and the noblemen who acted as Governors of the Generalife.
In ‘The Mendoza of the Renaissance’, the section situated between the Chapel and the Crypt of the Palace of Charles V, the exhibition explores the different characters in this family, the sons and grandsons of the Great Tendilla who played an important role in 16th century Spain. This section contains a portrait gallery of the members of the Royal family who visited the Alhambra between the 15th and 18th centuries, as well as mediaeval and Renaissance weapons related with the friezes that the architect Pedro Machuca used to decorate the base of the Palace of Charles V.
The fourth and last section is in the Crypt of the Palace of Charles V and is entitled The Long Decline. It runs from the War of the Alpujarras to the 18^th Century, in which the Tendillas were dismissed from the Governorship of the Alhambra by King Philip V. In this section we can see some of the household items (textiles, books, silverware) that would have filled the different rooms of the Alhambra in the mid-17th century and some of the everyday items related to the governors that have appeared in excavations or restructuring work carried out at the monument, including the rebuilding of what was once the Palace of the Tendillas, which was destroyed in the 18th century. As an appendix to this section, in the adjoining room visitors can find the family history written by Gaspar Ibáñez de Segovia, the last Governor of the Alhambra, and bibliography and audiovisual exhibits which offer an overall vision of the exhibition and of the genealogy of the Mendozas from Granada.
 The Great Tendilla
Appointed by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella as the Captain General of the Kingdom of Granada and the Governor of the Alhambra in 1492, Íñigo López de Mendoza belonged to a family who were originally from the Basque country and who had settled in Guadalajara and were heirs to the great Marquess of Santillana. He was also an adviser to the King and Queen, a great humanist, a patron of the arts and one of the most influential and most cultured men in the Kingdom, as were the other members of his family. The lineage of the Tendilla was a guarantee of the conservation of the Palace city as stipulated in the Ordinances of the Alhambra, which are also on display for the first time. This document regulated the proper use of water in the Alhambra and expressed the Great Tendilla’s sensitivity regarding the customs and traditions of the Moriscos. His son, Luis Hurtado de Mendoza, the third Count Tendilla and the second Marquess of de Mondéjar, followed in his footsteps and was influential in the court of the Emperor Charles V of whom he was a personal friend, as was Hernando Columbus, the son of Christopher Columbus.
The Tendillas: Lords of the Alhambra, a more accessible exhibition
            A novel aspect of the exhibition The Tendillas: Lords of the Alhambra is that it will be more accessible to disabled people thanks to a joint agreement between the Council of the Alhambra and Generalife, the ONCE Foundation, Kaleidoscope Access and the support of La Ciudad Accesible. Specifically during the months of April and May a series of free guided visits has been prepared for people with visual, hearing and intellectual and cognitive disabilities. Those interested in taking part should send an e-mail to info@kaleidoscope-access.org.