The Alhambra is one of the most comprehensive Islamicate palatial cities, for it served as the seat of the most long-lasting polity in the history of al-Andalus (1232–1492). This explains its complex, but well-organized, urban structure, within which workshops were a prominent feature. It is known that there were various tanneries to process hides and textiles, as well as a considerable number of pyrotechnological structures (furnaces and kilns) for the production of metal, glass, and ceramic items. Traditionally, these industrial facilities have been paid little attention by research, which largely followed an art-history approach in which the palaces were given total priority. There have been few exceptions to this. As a result, these industrial areas are poorly known, and a specific research project was sorely needed to understand their evolution over time, in particular; this is crucial, since they continued in operation long after the Castilian conquest in 1492. It is argued that it was after the fall of the Nasrid kingdom that industrial activities in the Alhambra reached their peak. The ceramics production comprised architectural elements used to decorate the palace walls, as well as everyday household accoutrements. Only during the final decades of the 18th century, and especially in the early 19th century, when Napoleonic forces left it after destroying part of the urban sector, can the industrial activity in the Alhambra be said to have been abandoned.

Keywords: Medieval and early modern Spain; technology; crafts; Alhambra.