The use of materials in the palace is varied. Some of the walls are made of a type of concrete, others of brick. Ashlar stones
were used at the gates and to reinforce the
corners of the walls. The outside walls were
stuccoed and sometimes painted to simulate stone or brick. Columns of marble were sometimes structural and sometimes not. Most of the •marble came from the province of Almerfa and has a white brilliance that gives the columns an elegant and ethereal quality. As in Greek times, the shaft was left plain, but the capital was painted in bright colors. Though relatively similar to classical columns in proportion, the Alhambra columns, like those in the Court of the Lions, have numerous annulets in the necking below the capital