The Alcázar is the oldest royal residence still in use in Europe. The name alludes to the founders of the fortress, deriving from the Arabic al-qaṣr, meaning castle. The Arabs began its construction as a residence of the emirs and it was later converted into a palace over the first half of the 12th century when the Abbadid dynasty ruled the city. It was called Al-Mubarak at the time, meaning “The Palace of the Blessing”. The Abbadid rulers were famous for promoting literature and the science of astronomy, especially during the rule of al-Mutamid, the Poet King. The influence of Islamic art was such that when in the middle of the 14th century almost a hundred years after the Christian conquest of the city, when King Pedro I decided to build a palace within the Alcázar, he had Arab artists style the building after the original Islamic residences.