At the beginning of the XVIIth century, an Andalusian gentleman said to his architect: “Please Sir, make me, in this plot of land, a big patio with spacious corridors, and if any space is left please make some rooms”. A patio full of that freshness that comes from the small fountains with their murmuring jets, a patio filled with the fragrance of jasmine, nightjasmine or orange blossom in Spring; a patio in which the five senses awake immediately, where the soul yields to intimacy, and to tranquillity. This could be the soul, the essence or a definition of a patio in an Andalusian house. The patio is the place in which daily life is centred.

A Legacy from the Muslim Andalusia, the Andalusian house is the Moorish house; from the Moors we inherited the quality of life inside these wonderful houses.

The patio is the great living-room of the house; it used to vary depending on the social status of its inhabitants. It had to impress visitors, as happens in the Patio de los Arrayanes ((Patio of myrtles)) of the Alhambra of Granada, whose mission was to impress Ministers and Christian Kings before entering the royal hall, the Comares hall. Both the traditional Andalusian house and the magnificent Andalusian Palace, on a different scale, have this central patio; the living quarters surrounding it must have two floors, and stairs leading to the upper level from the patio, although, inside the ground floor, it must have other secondary stairs less important than this one.

In Winter the inhabitants live on the upper floor which is better fitted for cold and humidity, it has more light, has large carpets, tapestries, and braziers and is richer in embellishments and has a more refined decoration.

In summertime, to face the high temperatures and the intense light, the family moves to the ground floor where the daily activity is carried out. Rooms with thick walls, high ceilings and corridors that, through the iron gate of the patio and the central fountain, refreshed the whole area. Both the floor of these rooms and that of the patio were made of baked earth, which was moistened to improve this general effect.

It was the culture of heat of the Moorish civilization. The Summer was the time of quietness, of a minimum of work in the fields. The “siestas” and that gathering of friends in the patio which could last until the early morning were very much present and almost compulsory. During the hottest months of the Summer the patio was, more than ever, the protagonist. And at the same time all was more provisional in the house, awaiting the first rains, the first cold weather to reduce the high temperatures, and with the rains it was necessary to come once more to the monotony, to the unhurried retreat, back to the upper floor to wait again for a new and hot but wonderful summer. Nevertheless, in any season of the year the patio was the main axis of life in the Andalusian house, its soul and the reason for its being.

Manuel Garcia