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Brief description of the monument
The Comares tower is the largest of the existing towers in the Alhambra, with a height of 45 meters. Its name is due to the stained glass windows of the balconies that illuminate the great room that occupies the interior of the tower, called "comarías".
Monument history
Between the walls of the Sala de la Barca and those of the immediate hall there is a narrow passage with two doors. The one on the left gives way to the upper rooms of the tower (the winter bedroom of the Sultan and the exit to the terrace of the tower). The one on the right will allow us to reach a room with a niche at the bottom, with a pointed horseshoe arch, decorated with ataurique. This stay was a small oratory, it was used exclusively by the emir.
The tower has several windows on its four facades, with gargoyles such as those of the Justice Tower and battlements to which pyramidal auctions were added in the 16th century. Inside is the Ambassadors Hall.
It is said that in this tower the Council was held in which it was agreed to deliver Granada to the Catholic Monarchs. They say that from one of their balconies, Boabdil's mother, knowing that her son was negotiating with the surrender Christians, said: «Look what you deliver and remember that all your ancestors died kings of Granada and the kingdom dies in you". The legend also says that it was here that Christopher Columbus convinces the Catholic Monarchs of his expedition to the West Indies that led him to the discovery of America on October 12, 1492, and where Queen Elizabeth offers his jewels to finance trip.
The name Comares is explained in several contrasting ways. Some claim that it refers to the stained glass windows - amariyya - that covered their windows, others say that it comes from the Malaga town of Comares where the crystals will have been manufactured. And the Lebanese author Amin Maluff pretends that it comes from the Arabic kamar, so it would be Tower of the Moon, this because astrologers used it to study the night sky.