Hall of the Ambassadors

This is the most majestic hall of the palace, where the throne was and where official receptions took place. 

A double arch connects this hall with the Hall of the Boat (Sala de la Barca). It is a square hall, of 11.30 x 11.30 meters and it is 18.20 meters high. Its floor was once made out of marble, although it is now made of clay floor tiles, with the coat of arms of the Alamares made of glazed ceramic tiles from the 16th century. The walls of the hall are 2.5 meters wide and have three arches each leading to three small rooms and twin balconies and windows above. 

The hall is completely covered by decorative inscriptions: niches, arches, walls and dressing rooms are all covered by poems. These are all praises to God or the emir, the Nasrid's motto or texts from the Koran, just like the one in the central chamber on the spandrel of the throne's arc, which reads as follows:


«Oh, God, fighter of the devil, please help me.
In name of God, who is merciful and has mercy.
Oh, God, please be company and salvation for our Master Mohammed and his generation.
And say: May the anger of God and of every devil that allows the disturbance of hell help me;
and deliver me from the evil of the envious ones when they are going to be envious.
And no deity but God is alive, whom we must praise eternally.Praise to the God of centuries.»


The central chamber is the most richly decorated of the palace. Next to this inscription there is a coffered interlacing part that covers the interior of the chamber, surrounded by a skirting board made of tiles and decorated with plasterwork. 

The hall is surrounded by a skirting board made of glazed pieces that form geometric figures, on top of which there is a very beautiful decoration of stylised vegetal forms, which covers the wall and is harmonically combined with geometric and vegetal elements. The cornice is of painted mocarabes. According to Fernández-Puertas, the ceiling is a representation of the Seven Heavens of the Islamic Paradise, with God's throne on the middle, represented by the central cube of mocarabes and the four trees of life are on the diagonals. The dome is a wooden masterpiece of craftsmanship. It is formed by cedar wood decorations covered by interlacing patterns, with a big cube of mocarabes in the middle, decorated with stars and painted in such a way that they seem nacre, silver and ivory. 

This layout was at the origin of the fresh atmosphere of the hall, as most of the space was in semidarkness. The layout also produced effects of great lighting concentrated on the throne.