New drawings of the Alhambra: deformations of muqarnas in the pendentives of the Sala de la Barca

Abstract

Architectural heritage preservation and sustainability need advanced graphic techniques in order to document and understand the disposition/composition of plaster muqarnas, a fragile construction element. The muqarnas are key elements in the Nasrid architecture developed during the 14th century in the Alhambra complex, nowadays part of World Heritage. As a case study, this analysis focuses on the muqarnas pendentives of the Sala de la Barca in the Comares Palace. After examining both explanations and drawings published by architects Jones and Goury from 1842 to 1845, our research provides new drawings (plans and elevations) derived from laser scanner technology. Theoretically, though muqarnas are composed of simple geometrical shapes, these new drawings unveil important deformations hitherto unknown, and which have not been studied yet by other bibliographic references. Finally, we provide some considerations about the causes of these deformations and the monument sustainability across the time and the images’ capacity to show the muqarnas complex shapes in a reliable way.