[1][2] Water is drawn from the Fuente Grande (Great Spring) via the Aynadamar irrigation channel at Alfacar, a small town to the north of Granada.

[5] Its construction predates the building of the Alhambra, to which the rulers of the Emirate of Granada relocated, although the cistern continued to supply the area and particularly the Dar al-Horra palace.

[7] The carmen and cistern was restored by the Ayuntamiento de Granada in 1988 and since 2008 has been managed by the AguaGranada Foundation, a charitable arm of the Emasagra water supply company.

[10] The cistern is constructed to a basilica plan, and forms a quadrangle with two portals to enable water to be drawn into the four underground vaulted chambers.

The chambers also have a central opening in the roof, a feature unique to the Aljibe del Rey, which may have been to allow the supplementing of the water supply with rainwater.