Glorious Granada: A History of Architecture by Devanshi Mody

What’s in a name? The name Granada is ancient and mysterious, derived either from the Spanish granada, "pomegranate," which appears on the city's coat of arms, or from its Moorish name, Karnattah (Gharnatah), possibly meaning "hill of strangers” or "great castle", referring to the Roman fortress, which once stood on the Albaicin Hill or Garnat-al-Yahud – “Granada of the Jews,” apparently the first peoples to settle in Spain, even before the Romans.

Granada was first peopled by native tribes in the prehistoric period, and was known as Ilbyr, which became Illibris under the Romans and was finally re-christened Granada, by the invading Moors. It was the last Muslim city to fall to the Christians in 1492, conquered by Queen Isabel of Castile and her husband Ferdinand of Aragon.

Universal Architecture

One of the most brilliant jewels of universal architecture is the Alhambra, a series of palaces and gardens abounding with fountains and waterways built under the Nazari Dynasty in the 14th C. This magnificent complex of buildings stands at the foot of Spain's highest mountain range, the Sierra Nevada, and overlooks the city below and the fertile plain of Granada.

The name Alhambra comes from an Arabic root meaning "crimson castle", reflecting the red-hued towers and walls surrounding the hill of La Sabica. The more poetic version evokes the construction of the Alhambra fortress "by the light of torches", the reflections of which gave the walls their particular coloration.

Created originally for military purposes, the Alhambra was an "alcazaba" (fortress), an "alcázar" (palace) and a small "medina" (city). This triple character encompasses the three divisions usually found in a Moslem palace complex.  The Alcazar includes a reception salon and the royal apartments.

The spectacular Court of the Lions illustrates the most beautiful examples of Granada Muslim art. A grove of 124 palm trees courting the oasis of the central fountain with its twelve marble lions. Water, a significant decorative element, acquires here an exceptional importance. It ascends and spills from the basin, (compared with the 'sea of bronze' of Solomon's Temple), to the mouths of the lions, from which it is distributed throughout the courtyard. A lovely "qasida" (ode) by Ibn Zamrak circles the rim of the basin. Throughout the palace’s private chambers, an air of femininity and daintiness reigns, to compliment the placid enjoyment of family life.

Garden of Paradise

Ever enchanting is the summer palace "Generalife" translated as "garden of paradise", "orchard" or "garden of feasts". A promenade leads to the "Patio de la Acequia" the most celebrated spot of the palace grounds, adorned by oleander and myrtle crowned pretty ponds. The Upper Gardens, once olive groves, today boast a handsome esplanade and gardens with cascading waterfalls.

The Alhambra became a Christian court in 1492 when Ferdinand and Isabel conquered Granada. At the centre of the Alhambra, Emperor Charles V erected the monumental Palace of Charles V, an outstanding example of Spanish Renaissance architecture.

Alacazaba, the oldest part of the Alhambra, boasts the impressive Torre de la Vela. Its bell is rung on festive occasions by maidens hoping to ward off spinsterhood - dated though this sounds these days… At the entrance of the Alcazaba is the delightful "Jardín de los Adarves", also called "Jardin de los Poetas".

During the 18th century, the Alhambra fell into neglect, with its salons converted into dung heaps and taverns, occupied by thieves and beggars. "Thus bats defile abandoned castles, and the reality of Spanish criminals and beggars destroy the illusion of this fairy palace of the Moors," wrote Richard Ford. As the crowning blow, Napoleon's troops, masters of Granada from 1808 until 1812, converted the palaces into barracks. And so the incredible neglect continued, until 1870 when the Alhambra was declared a national monument and restored.

Alhambra Folklore

The Alhambra’s famed rose gardens offer dramatic views over El Albaicin, meaning "quarter of the falconers", but most historians prefer "quarter of the people of Baeza. The Albaicin hill is the old Moorish casbah or "medina", a fascinating labyrinth of narrow streets and whitewashed houses with secluded inner gardens, known as "cármenes".

This old quarter is rich in folklore: the Crucifix which stands in the Plaza San Miguel is called El Cristo de las Lañas - the Christ of the Clamps, because of the heavy iron clamps which hold the sections of Christ’s broken body together. When the Civil War broke out in 1936, the Republican soldiers smashed the statue, leaving the local people to hide the fragments each in a different cellar, until they could be reconstituted after the war.

As for the Bib Rambla Square, where Moorish noblemen once jousted on their Arabian steeds, it was later the scene for the auto-da-fes in which the Inquisition judged, and summarily burned at the stake, converted Jews accused of continuing to practice their native religion.

The Magnificent Vista

The Plaza de San Nicolas, at the highest point of the Albaicin, is well worth the steep hike through the Albaicin to marvel at the view of the Alhambra and the Generalife with the Sierra Nevada backdrop. Bill Clinton recently re-visited this spot whilst on a trip to Spain as apparently he had been when a student and had never forgotten the magnificent vista. The Sacromonte hill, which overlooks the city from the North, is famous for its cave dwellings, once the home of Granada's large gypsy and notorious hippy communities.

Don’t forget to browse around the Alcaicería, the erstwhile Great Bazaar of Granada, famous for silk, of which Granada was a major producer since the Roman Empire, because Caesar had given the Moors the exclusive right to sell the precious fabric, in exchange for precious taxes, of course. Nevertheless, the Granadians showed their gratitude by calling all such bazaars Al-Caicería, literally "Caesar's Place", in Arabic. But the Alcaicería we see today is a re-contruction - the real one having burned down in the early 19th century. Matches had just been invented and a shop selling them caught fire in the night, leaving the entire bazaar in cinders.

Fusing East and West

Granada’s many Christian monuments fuse East and West. The Royal Chapel is the mausoleum of the Catholic monarchs Isabel and Ferdinand, who chose to be buried in Granada because they saw its conquest as the crowning achievement of their reign. Isabel wanted a modest mausoleum for herself and her descendants. But she died before the chapel could be built, and spent some twenty years in a provisional tomb in the Franciscan convent in the Alhambra’s palace mosque, (now a luxury hotel, the Parador San Francisco).

The architects, out of deference for her importance rather than her dying wishes, made the chapel larger and more luxurious than planned. Nevertheless, her grandson Carlos V judged it too unassuming for the masters of a reign on which the sun never set, and moved the Royal Mausoleum, for all of Spain's subsequent monarchs to the blockbuster Escorial Monastery outside Madrid.

It may seem chronologically strange that the Cathedral itself should have been built in the new Italian Renaissance style, while the Royal Chapel - of which it is an appendage - is in the earlier, Gothic style favoured by Queen Isabel. The explanation is a significant one: immediately after the Re-conquest, the "Cathedral" was first set up inside the Great Mosque, creating the same bizarre combination we see today in the Mezquita of Cordoba, with its baroque chapel in the midst of the Moorish colonnades.

But long after the Royal Chapel had been built onto its north wall, the dilapidated mosque-cathedral contraption was torn down and rebuilt in the "new" Renaissance style. Other major Christian monuments include the Monastery of La Cartuja and many churches built by Moorish craftsmen after the Re-conquest, in Granada's unique "mudéjar" style.

Grenada evokes history and culture. But it is also a thriving hip and indeed hippy hot spot with charming restaurants, boutiques, galleries, Moroccan-style cafes and bars. Any visit to Grenada would be incomplete without a taste of this throbbing enclave’s gastro scene and nightlife. With a few hippies thrown in, it’s hip, hip hurrah!

Inspired to explore one of Andalucia's architectural jewels? Find out more about the best places to stay in Granada. Or see all our luxury hotels in Granada.