It’s a cold rainy night in the walled city of Cordoba, medieval Spain. Watchmen guard the city, unaware that an entire army of christian soldiers are about to launch a surprise attack. In a single night, they conquer the entire city, bringing the muslim rule to an end.
All over the land, muslim cities were being conquered and taken over by the christians. But amidst all of this, one city remained unconquered, Granada.
Thanks to its strategic position and the enormous Alhambra Palace, the city was protected, and it remained untouched for another 200 years.
To this day, the Alhambra Palace still stands as one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture ever made. But as you walk through the luxurious courtyards and hallways, you start to notice something even more special, the water.
Winding its way through the palace is a mind-blowing network of medieval pipes and channels that carry water to vibrant gardens, thermal baths, and elegant fountains. The engineering required to pull this off was astonishing, and it gave the palace things like underfloor heating, and fountains that could tell the time. This incredible system also kept the palace cool and brought life to the surrounding nature for hundreds of years, and it still works to this day.
We modeled the entire thing, to show you how it all worked and the lost mechanisms that once allowed the water to defy gravity and travel uphill.
When the ruler of Granada commissioned the palace, the engineers had one major problem.
The hill was around 200 meters above Granada’s main river, and getting water up to the palace would be a huge challenge. And so, they followed the river 6 kilometers upstream to a point that was considerably higher than the palace. From here, they dammed the river and started redirecting it down a new channel known as the Royal Canal. With meticulous planning, it navigated its way through the difficult terrain, maintaining a very shallow slope, until it arrived just outside the palace.
It was a huge amount of work, - but this was only the beginning.
The designers of the palace had big ideas; elegant fountains shooting out jets of water, bathing rooms with showers and underfloor heating, and clocks that were powered by water. All of this required much higher water pressure than the Royal Canal provided.
