THE RED BRICK WALL
Long ago, some African people, called the Moors, built a fortress in
Granada, Spain. They also built a palace behind the red brick walls of
the fortress. They called the fortress and palace “Alhambra,” an Arabic
word that means “the red.”
In 1492, the same year that Columbus sailed for America, King Ferdinand
and Queen Isabella of Spain ordered their armies to attack the Moors.
The Spanish Army marched to the Alhambra at the foot of the Mulhacen,
the highest mountain in Spain. The Moors lost the battle and the
Alhambra, which was their last stronghold in Spain.
Through the years, the Alhambra began to crumble. No one did much to
preserve it until after the American writer Washington Irving went to
live in Spain for a while.
Irving wrote a book called The Alhambra. His book stirred people to
save the Alhambra from becoming a ruin. Today, you can walk through the
gardens of the Alhambra and look up at the steep mountains.
\^The Alhambra in Granada, Spain
The Court of the Lions has a fountain surrounded by stone lions.
