Castillejo de Monteagudo

The castle and palace of Monteagudo[1] were part of the same construction programme, which aimed to provide a defence against invaders and make Murcia into a seat of political power. This building is without doubt the finest example of mardaniside architecture. The ensemble consisted of a Palatine estate, comprising a castle and palace. It was also an agricultural centre (rahal), comprising an aqueduct and an open-air tank to the west which, in addition to irrigation, could be used during palace festivities. The organization of the grounds is very reminiscent of the large agricultural estates in the Syrian steppes during the Umayyad period.

The castle is composed of three platforms and an upper enclosure with a wall to the north, which is characteristic of mardaniside fortifications. Possibly dating from an earlier period, it was in fact rebuilt in the twelfth century.

The palace, known as castillejo, is a rectangular-shaped construction enclosed by a wall organized around a large central courtyard, surrounded by several rooms—a distinctive feature of Islamic residential architecture. There are, however, some major historical innovations in Andalusian architecture in this building. It was, in fact, the first example of a courtyard complemented in the north and south by two recesses situated in the centre of a central keep, creating a T-shaped arrangement adapted to the ceremonial nature of the rooms. Although reservoirs to the north and south, and not pavilions, form the main axis of the layout and show an obvious connection with the buildings Madinat al-Zahra and the Aljafería Palace in Zaragoza, the direct precursor of this design seems to be the palace of ‘Alī ibn Yūsuf in Marrakech. This arrangement can also be found in the Zīrid palace of Ashīr (Algeria, tenth century), the Qal‘a fortress of Bani Hammad (Algeria, 1007–1008), and the Zisa and Cuba palaces in Palermo (Sicily). The towers probably served as a mirador, providing the clearest example of the origin of habitable towers in Nasrid architecture. The corner keeps, which are separate from the main section, are composed of small rooms arranged around a courtyard, and correspond with the living quarters.

The characteristics of mardaniside art were identified thanks to the study of this monument: there are in fact many buildings that were built as fortified enclosures using a system of reentrant angles in the corners[2].

The remains of the architectural decoration follow the Almoravid tradition: painted panels, which have not survived, decorated the north and south rooms; fragments of stucco decoration, kept in the Museum of Murcia and the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, completed the decorations. On one of these fragments there is a representation of a hand grasping a stem that develops into a vegetal composition. This may represent the king's generosity, which poets often compared to a branch that flowers and produces fruit. This iconographic theme can be seen in many architectural decorations: the Umayyad palace of Khirbat al-Mafjar (Jericho, second quarter of the eighth century), the Dos Hermanas room in the Alhambra palace (Granada, fourteenth century) and various Almohad and Mudéjar buildings, such as the Chapel of Assumption in the cloister of the Abbey of Santa Maria la Real de Huelgas (twelfth to fourteenth century), the Doncellas courtyard in the palace of Peter I of Castile (fourteenth century), and the del Transito synagogue in Toledo (twelfth century).

The vegetal decorations also include the asymmetrical Almoravid[3] palm. One of the major innovations is the original use of cursive epigraphy in the architectural decoration.

[2] The same spatial arrangement was used in the castles of Asomada and Portazgo.

[3] This is also the case in the decorations of the palaces of Santa Clara (Murcia) and Pinohermoso (Xàtiva).