Abd al-Rahman III built a fortified enclosure here in 913 and 914, about 328 feet (100 m) on a side, replacing a Visigothic basilica. The Almohads nearly doubled the complex in the 12th century. Alfonso X built a Gothic palace in 1258, most of which fell in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.
Pedro I rebuilt the palace in the 1360s in an ornate Mudéjar style. A Latin inscription on the facade gives 1364, and an Arabic inscription in the Hall of Ambassadors gives 1366. It closely resembles the Nasrid palaces of the Alhambra, and Muhammad V of Granada likely sent craftsmen.
The Hall of Ambassadors has a qubba dome, and Charles V and Isabella of Portugal married there in 1526. Luis de Vega added the Court of the Maidens' upper story from 1540 to 1572, in an Italian Renaissance style. The royal family still uses the upper floors. UNESCO listed the site in 1987.
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