Court of the Lions Fountain, Alhambra, Granada

Twelve marble lions carry the basin at the heart of the Alhambra's Court of the Lions, built for the Nasrid sultan Muhammad V in the second half of the 14th century, the bowl itself carved from a single piece of marble. Water spills from each lion's mouth, and four channels run out across the courtyard toward the surrounding halls, often read as the four rivers of paradise. A twelve-verse poem by the vizier and poet Ibn Zamrak is carved around the basin's rim.