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A ''mirador'' is a
A ''mirador'' is a Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...
term (from ) designating a lookout point
Caversham is one of the older suburbs of the city of Dunedin, in New Zealand's South Island. It is sited at the western edge of the city's central plain at the mouth of the steep Caversham Valley, which rises to the saddle of Lookout Point. Maj ...
or a place designed to offer extensive views of the surrounding area. In an architectural context, the term can refer to a tower, balcony, window, or other feature that offers wide views. The term is often applied to Moorish architecture
Moorish architecture is a style within Islamic architecture which developed in the western Islamic world, including al-Andalus (on the Iberian peninsula) and what is now Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia (part of the Maghreb). The term "Moorish" ...
, especially Nasrid
The Nasrid dynasty ( ar, بنو نصر ''banū Naṣr'' or ''banū al-Aḥmar''; Spanish: ''Nazarí'') was the last Muslim dynasty in the Iberian Peninsula, ruling the Emirate of Granada from 1230 until 1492. Its members claimed to be of A ...
architecture, to refer to an elevated room or platform that projects outwards from the rest of a building and offers 180-degree views through windows on three sides. The equivalent term in Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
is ''bahw'' () or ''manāẓir/manẓar'' ().
In Moorish architecture the mirador is typically situated on the perimeter of a building and is aligned with its central axis. It is particularly characteristic of Nasrid architecture in al-Andalus
Al-Andalus translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label= Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the Mus ...
(late 13th to 15th centuries), most notably in the palaces of the Alhambra. Scholar Arnold Felix traces the development of this feature to the combination of two pre-existing features in the architecture of al-Andalus and western North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...
: halls with views over gardens in earlier Moorish architecture, such as the 10th-century example of ''ar-Rummāniya'' (a palatial country estate outside Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
Cordoba), and rooms projecting from the edge or rear of fortified palaces, such as in the 11th-century Castle of Monteagudo (near Murcia
Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the List of municipalities of Spain, seventh largest city in the country. It has a ...
) and Qal'at Bani Hammad
Qal'at Bani Hammad ( ar, قلعة بني حماد), also known as Qal'a Bani Hammad or Qal'at of the Beni Hammad (among other variants), is a fortified palatine city in Algeria. Now in ruins, in the 11th century, it served as the first capital o ...
(in Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, religi ...
). The earliest true examples of the Nasrid mirador are found in the Generalife
The Generalife (; ar, جَنَّة الْعَرِيف, translit=Jannat al-‘Arīf) was a summer palace and country estate of the Nasrid rulers of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus. It is located directly east of and uphill from the Alhambr ...
Palace and the Palace of the Convent of San Francisco
The Palace of the Convent of San Francisco () or Palace of the ex-Convent of San Francisco () is a former medieval Nasrid palace in the Alhambra of Granada, Spain, which was transformed into a Franciscan convent after the Spanish conquest of Gr ...
. The pinnacle of mirador design is the ornate Mirador of Lindaraja in the Palace of the Lions in the Alhambra.
References
{{Architecturalelement-stub Moorish architecture Architecture in Spain Nasrid architecture