The interior, which is a square of 37 ft. by 75 ft. high up to the centre of the dome, is occupied by the Sala de Embajadores, the reception-room of the Sultans. It is the largest and perhaps the most imposing of the halls of the Alhambra. Lifting our eyes, we behold a glorious, airy dome, of artesonado work, with stars and painted angles. Owen Jones is of opinion that the present ceiling replaced an earlier one, which was supported by an arch of brick. The hall lacks its former pavement of marble, its central fountain, and the lattices that filled in its twin-windows. But it is still adorned by a beautiful mosaic dado (known as _sofeisfa_) reaching to the wooden cornice. Numerous are the Kufic and African inscriptions introduced into the decoration, the motto of Al Ahmar being frequently repeated. Opening on to the hall are nine alcoves, each with twin-windows, which have replaced balconies. The alcove opposite the entrance was the site of the Sultan’s throne, as the long poetical inscriptions testify. What gorgeous assemblies must have filled this saloon in bygone years--and what tumultuous scenes and fateful decisions must have been here enacted! THE PATIO DE LOS LEONES AND ADJACENT APARTMENTS. The Patio de los Leones (Court of the Lions) occupies, with the chambers opening on to it, the south-eastern quarter of the Palace. “There is no part of the edifice that gives us a more complete idea of its original beauty and magnificence than this,” says Washington Irving, “for none has suffered so little from the ravages of time. In the centre stands the fountain famous in song and story. The alabaster basins still shed their diamond drops; and the twelve lions, which support them, cast forth their crystal streams as in the days of Boabdil. The architecture, like that of all other parts of the palace, is characterised by elegance rather than grandeur; bespeaking a delicate and graceful taste, and a disposition to indolent enjoyment. When one looks upon the fairy tracery of the peristyles, and the apparently fragile fretwork of the walls, it is difficult to believe that so much has survived the wear and tear of centuries, the shocks of earthquakes, the violence of war, and the quiet, though no less baneful, pilferings of the tasteful traveller: it is almost sufficient to excuse the popular tradition, that the whole is protected by a magic charm.”