Nasrid Art at the Alhambra

The tiles and decorations in the Alhambra are known as Nasrid Art. Granada was ruled by a succession of 23 emirs from the Nasrid dynasty in Granada between 1230 and 1492. The interlocking patterns of Narrid art are based on the concept of tessellation, that is to say, an arrangement of shapes closely fitted together, especially of polygons in a repeated pattern without gaps or overlapping.

The simplest way of making tesselated patterns is with squares, hexagons and equilateral triangles but in Nasrid art the concept was taken to extremes using complex regular polygons which as subjected to rotations, reflexions and all manner of techniques to produce a sophisticated and harmonious result.