The Nasrid Palaces, also called the Old Royal Quarter, are a palatial complex of the Alhambra in Granada made up of two independent palaces, the Palacio de Comares and the Palacio de los Leones, and annexes, Mexuar, chosen by the Catholic Monarchs to inhabit them in their rooms. in Granada of the endless number of palaces, mansions, large houses and towers-palaces that the palatine city of the Alhambra has housed.

These residences were replaced according to the Islamic precepts of not building anything that would be perpetuated in time and the tradition that each sultan became his palace to demonstrate his personal power. The decision of the Catholic Monarchs guaranteed its preservation, against other mistreated, abandoned or destroyed by the French, almost all of them.

Some of these palaces were the seat of the Nasrid court, performing administrative, protocol, residential and enjoyment functions. Chronologically they were built after the citadel, the Generalife and the Partal, being its construction from the first third of the 14th century.

The Sala del Mexuar is the oldest room in the palatine complex, it must have belonged to a structure prior to the Palace of Comares and the Palace of Los Leones, and was probably built by Isma'il I (1314-1325), serving as an audience room and justice for important cases. It had an elevated chamber closed by lattices where the sultan sat listening without being seen, although its name comes from the Arabic term Maswar, the place where the Sura (Council of Ministers) met.

It was renovated by Muhammad V to serve as a waiting room for applicants for justice when he built the Patio del Mexuar. The Catholic Monarchs added a plant on top, cutting the central skylight and transforming it into a chapel, enlarging it to the north with the demolition of a partition and opening side windows. In the 19th and 20th centuries it was restored.

The decoration is the result of a multitude of interventions between the 16th and 20th centuries, in which the columns and capitals characteristic of Nasrid architecture stand out. In the tile panels that decorate its walls, pieces of Nasrid origin are combined with interventions and Christian pieces.