The Comares Tower and the Ambassadors Saloon.

The Tower of Comares stands at the end of the Patio de los Arrayanes (Myrtle Court). It is reached by the Barca Room. The Salon des Ambassadeurs is the largest and highest stay in the palace. It was built in the second third of the 14th century under the reign of Yusuf I, having at that time the main function of the sultan's private audience room.

It is a square piece of 11 meters side and 18 meters high. The floor is now clay tiles, but formerly it was marble. One can observe in its center a square surface with the name of Allah written on azulejos.

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It is a place filled with poetry, praises to God and the Emir accompanied by fragments of the Koran. The smallest centimeter of the wall is covered by a decorative element. On the sides, nine alcoves (bedrooms) that distribute the sides of the room, the central north side was that of the sultan. The windows found there were formerly closed by jealousies of wood with colored windows which one called cumarias, from where the origin of Comares. All the walls are covered with stucco with floral motifs, stars, writing etc ... and the bases are made of azulejos. With gold on the reliefs and light colors in the recesses, the room is also polychrome. With its play of light and courtesan atmosphere that did not reach us intact, the room was to be one of the most impressive in the Islamic world. Braziers warmed the room and the light was provided by oil lamps. The cubic roof is another special feature of the Salon des Ambassadeurs: there is a representation of the seven skies of Muslim culture, located one above the other - the Koran says that above them is the throne of God - and the entire ceiling is full of stars, 150 in number!

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The ceiling is therefore a representation of the universe, perhaps one of the most successful of the Middle Ages. The superimposed stars in different levels are made of cedar wood with inlays of different colors. The "Escabel", the level in the center and the highest, is according to the Qur'anic accounts that of God (Allah). From this level, the geometric patterns are repeated by dividing the ceiling into seven spaces, the seven skies that descend successively to our world: the 7 is one of the symbolic figures par excellence. The King enthroned under this ceiling thus decorated, this symbolic use aims to legitimize the sovereign in his function of representative ("jalifa", who gave caliphate) of God on earth. But the symbology of the room goes further: the four diagonals of the ceiling of Comares represent the four rivers of Paradise and the Tree of the World (or Axis Mundi), which takes root since the Escabel, extends throughout the world. 'universe. In addition, the 9 alcoves (3 on each wall), plus the 3 omises to create the passage to the Sala de la Baraka, are a reference to the 12 zodiacal houses, in direct reference to the seventh heaven that finds its place in the same height.

Exiting through the Patio de los Arrayanes, on the left side, an arch gives access to a passage through which one reaches a private area of ​​the monarch, the "Harén" (Haram means private place in Arabic). We then go to the Palace of Lions.

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