The Nasrid Alhambra was a courtly city, conceived and built to serve the royal court. The urban layout, strictly in line with Andalusian and Islamic tradition, was clearly organized during the two and a half centuries of its development, and marked by the changes caused by sultanate instability and the variable polities stemming from pacts and vassalage.   

A military base for the royal guard in the Alcazaba provided security on the inside to the Sultan, his family and the governing bodies. A military centre, strategically situated with easy access to the rest of the Alhambra, the Alcazaba housed the guards and their families. Like any other municipality, it had a cistern and places for bathing.

There was a palatial zone reserved exclusively for the Sultan and his kin. It also had administrative offices, which were situated in accordance with protocol, the more private and courtly ones taking precedence. There were also areas where people came together for readings of the Surah or to hold Counsel of Ministers meetings.

In this courtly zone palaces were built during various periods, either by adding structural or decorative changes to the original building, or by constructing a new one. A road providing access to the various palatial locations was also separated from the rest of the Alhambra and off limits to unauthorized citizens.

The Alhambra Medina inhabitants served the court and the Palace. The quarter, with a slightly inclined main street that ran west and east, had public baths, a mosque, and shops.

Adjacent to the Mosque were the Rauda, or Cemetery of the Sultans, and a school, or Madraza. In the low lying area, behind the Gate of Wine, the main gate, there were houses, some of which were important, where functionaries and servants to the Court resided. There were small wells and public gathering places. About halfway down, on either side of the street, were two large buildings considered to be veritable palaces: the Abencerrages and the building that later became the Monastery of San Francisco.

The upper part of the city was where small artisanal industry was established: glass blowing, ceramics, tanning, water mills and even coin minting.

In this area the King’s Canal entered the Alhambra through an aqueduct and a conduit. The channel, parallel with the Royal Road, flowed downward, sending water through a maze of canals covering the entire area.

The Alhambra was unassailable, it being totally surrounded by an impregnable wall that was joined to the wall that protected Granada. The Alhambra wall had four main gates: the Gate of Arms and the Gate of the Arrabal, on the north side, and the Gate of Justice and the Gate of the Seven Floors , on the south side.