It is a miracle of the finest Islamic art, where architecture of supreme delicacy combines with brilliant engineering to create an alternative world of cool stately rooms, colonnades and water-gurgling courtyards amid the searing heat of the region. Such architecture is often described as a consciously poetic attempt to create Paradise, as described in some detail in the Koran. True: but the Moorish builders were also highly proficient at a technical level. They knew exactly how to moderate the temperature by a combination of airflow, movement of water, and shade, but their triumph was to ensure that their science and their art were inseparable. Between 1248, when Ibn Ahmar established Granada as an independent kingdom, and 1492, when his Nasrid dynasty finally yielded to the Christian forces of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Alhambra developed as a palace of serene sophistication.