Granada

For other uses, see Granada (disambiguation).

Granada
City
400px Clockwise from top: The Alhambra, Cathedral of Granada, Palace of Charles V, Court of la Lindaraja on the Generalife, Puerta Real, the Albayzín district
Flag Coat of arms
Country	Spain
Autonomous Community	Andalusia
Province	Granada
Comarca	Vega de Granada
Government
• Type	Mayor-council
• Body	Ayuntamiento de Granada
• Mayor	José Torres Hurtado (PP)
Area
• Total	88 km2 (34 sq mi)
Elevation (AMSL)	738 m (2,421 ft)
Population  (2007)
• Total	237,929
• Density	2,700/km2 (7,000/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	18000
Area code	+34 (Spain) + (Granada)
Website	Official website

Granada (Spanish pronunciation: [ɡɾaˈnaða]) is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain.

The city of Granada is placed at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, Beiro, Darro and Genil, at an elevation of 738 metres above sea level yet only one hour from the Mediterranean coast, the Costa Tropical. Nearby is the Sierra Nevada Ski Resort, where the 1996 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships were held.

At the 2005 census, the population of the city of Granada proper was 236,982, and the population of the entire urban area was estimated to be 472,638, ranking as the 13th-largest urban area of Spain. About 3.3% of the population did not hold Spanish citizenship, the largest number of these (31%) coming from South America. Its nearest airport is Federico García Lorca Airport.

The Alhambra, a Moorish citadel and palace, is in Granada. It is one of the most famous items of the Islamic historical legacy that makes Granada a hot spot among cultural and tourist cities in Spain. The Almohad urbanism with some fine examples of Moorish and Morisco constructions is preserved at the part of the city called the Albaicín.

Granada is also well-known within Spain due to the prestigious University of Granada and, nowadays, vibrant night-life. In fact, it is said that it is one of the three best cities for university students (the other two are Salamanca and Santiago de Compostela).

The pomegranate (in Spanish, 'granada') is the heraldic device of Granada.

History

Gates of Fajalauza, in the City Walls

Historic map of Granada by Piri Reis

Early history

Main article: Hispania

The city of Granada's origins were as a strong Ibero-Celtic settlement. By the 5th century BCE, the Greeks had established a colony which they named Elibyrge or Elybirge (Greek: Ἐλιβύργη). Under the Ancient Roman rule of Hispania, in the early centuries CE, this city name had become "Illiberis". As Illiberis, the city minted its own coins as part of the economy of Hispania. As the Western Roman Empire fell the Visigoths maintained the importance of the city as a centre of both ecclesiastical and civil administration and also established it as a military stronghold. It was reconquered and ruled by the Eastern Roman Empire for a century.

Moorish Al Andalus

Main article: Al-Andalus

In 711 Moors, after the Umayyad conquest of Hispania, occupied large parts of the Iberian Peninsula establishing the Al-Andalus (Moorish Spain). The Moors maintained much of the Roman legacy, having had Roman infrastructure repaired and extended, using it for irrigation while introducing new agricultural practices and novel crops, such as citrus fruit and apricots in Granada. Beforehand the Jewish people had established a community on the edge of the city, called "Gárnata" or "Gárnata al-yahud" ('Granada of the Jews'). With the help of this community the Moorish forces, under Tariq ibn-Ziyad first took the city in 711, though it was not fully conquered until 713. The Jews referred to the city using the Iberian name "Ilbira", with the remaining Christian community calling it "Elvira". It became the capital of a province of the Caliphate of Cordoba. Civil conflicts that wracked the Caliphate in the early eleventh century led to the destruction of the city in 1010. In the subsequent reconstruction, the suburb of Gharnáta (Arabic: غَرْنَاطَة) was incorporated in the city, and the modern name in fact derives from this. With the arrival of the Zirid dynasty in 1013, Granada became an independent emirate Taifa of Granada. By the end of the eleventh century, the city had spread across the Darro to reach the hill of the future of the Alhambra, and included the Albayzín (also Albaicín or El Albaicín) neighborhood (a world heritage site). The Almohad dynasty ruled Granada in this period.

Nasrid Dynasty—Emirate of Granada

Main article: Emirate of Granada

In 1228, with the departure of the Almohad prince, Idris, who left Iberia to take the Almohad leadership, the ambitious Ibn al-Ahmar established the longest lasting Muslim dynasty on the Iberian peninsula - the Nasrids. With the Reconquista in full swing after the conquest of Cordoba in 1236, the Nasrids aligned themselves with Ferdinand III of Castile, officially becoming a tributary state in 1238. The state officially became the Emirate of Granada in 1238.

Granada was a tributary state to the Kingdom of Castile since 1238. It provided connections with the Muslim and Arab trade centers, particularly gold from sub-Saharan Africa, and the Maghreb. The Nasrids also supplied troops for Castile, from the Emirate and mercenaries from North Africa.

The Capitulation of Granada by F. Padilla: Muhammad XII before Ferdinand and Isabella.

Reconquista and the 16th century

On January 2, 1492, the last Muslim sultan in Iberia, Emir Muhammad XII, known as Boabdil to the Spanish, surrendered complete control of Emirate of Granada, to Ferdinand II and Isabella I, Los Reyes Católicos ('The Catholic Monarchs'), after the last battle of the Granada War.

The 1492 surrender of the Islamic Emirate of Granada to Catholic Monarchs is one of the more significant events in Granada's history and also the completion of the Reconquesta of Al Andalus. The terms of the surrender, the Alhambra Decree treaty, explicitly allowed the city's Muslim inhabitants to continue unmolested in their faith and customs, known as Mudéjar. By 1499, however, Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros grew frustrated with the slow conversion efforts of Granada's first Archbishop, Fernando de Talavera, and undertook a program of forced Christian baptisms creating the Converso (convert) class for Moors (Morisco) and Jews (Marrano). Cisneros's new tactics, which were a direct violation of the terms of the treaty, provoked an armed Muslim revolt centered in the rural Alpujarras region southwest of the city. Responding to the rebellion in 1501, the Castilian Crown rescinded the Alhambra Decree treaty, and mandated that Granada's Muslims must convert or emigrate. With the 1492 Alhambra Decree Spain's Jewish population, unlike the Muslims, had already been forced to convert or be expelled-executed, becoming Marranos or Catholics of Jewish descent. Many of the elite Muslim class emigrated to North Africa. The majority of the Granada's Mudéjar Muslims stayed to convert, becoming Moriscos or Catholics of Moorish descent. Both populations of conversos were subject to persecution, execution, or exile, and each had a portion that practiced their original religion in secrecy.

Over the course of the sixteenth century, Granada took on an ever more Catholic and Castilian character, as immigrants came to the city from other parts of the Iberian Peninsula. The city's mosques were converted to Christian churches or completely destroyed. New structures, such as cathedral and the Chancillería, or Royal Court of Appeals, transformed the urban landscape. After the 1492 Alhambra decree, resulting in the majority of Granada's Jewish population being expelled, the Jewish quarter (ghetto) was demolished to make way for new Catholic and Castilian institutions and uses.

Legacy

Main article: Spanish Empire

The fall of Granada holds an significant place among the many important events that mark the latter half of the Spanish 15th century. It completed the reconquista of the eight hundred year-long Moorish civilization in the Iberian Peninsula. Spain, now without major internal territorial conflict, embarked on the great phase of exploration and colonization around the globe. In the same year the sailing expedition of Christopher Columbus became the first European sighting of the New World. The Americas enriched the crown and country, allowing Isabella I and Ferdinand II significant accomplishments in their reign. Subsequent conquests and colonization from the maritime expeditions they commissioned created the vast Spanish Empire, the largest in the world for a time.

Heritage and monuments

Main article: Monuments and sights of Granada

The most artistic wealth of Granada is the Spanish-muslim art, in particular, the palace city of the Alhambra and the Generalife, the latter a pleasure palace with a romantic garden, remarkable both for its location and arrangement as for the diversity flowers, plants and fountains. The Alhambra is the culmination of the Nasrid art, work that was done in the 13th and 14th centuries, with most of it built at the time of Yusuf I and Mohammed V, between 1333 and 1354.

At present, the appearance of the city of Granada is typically bourgeois, with a lot of weight in the architecture of the 19th and numerous Renaissance and Baroque buildings.

The Alhambra

Main article: Alhambra

Court of the Lions, The Alhambra

The Alhambra is a Nasrid "palace city" , declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1984. It is certainly its most emblematic monument and one of the most visited in Spain. It consists of a defensive zone, the Alcazaba, other of residential and representative character, the Nasrid Palaces, and a last of leisure, El Generalife, which consists of palace, gardens and orchards.

It is located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and from that place over all the city and plain of Granada, suggesting that there may exist buildings of before the arrival of Muslims. Whole, completely walled, bordered to the north through the valley of the Darro, south by the al-Sabika, and east of the Cuesta del Rey Chico, which in turn separated from Albaicín and Generalife, located in the Cerro del Sol.

In the 11th century joined the Castle of the Alhambra in its walled town which turned into a military stronghold from which dominated the whole city, but was in the 13th century with the arrival of the first monarch of the Nasrid dynasty, Mohammed I ibn Nasr (Mohammed I, 1238-1273) when its would set the royal residence in the Alhambra. This marked the beginning of its heyday. At that time, the Alhambra was palace, citadel and fortress, residence of the Nasrid sultans and senior officials, servants of the court and elite soldiers (13th-14th centuries).

From the time of the Catholic Monarchs to the present highlights the demolition of part of the architectonical complex, by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor to build the Palace which bears his name, and the construction of the rooms of the emperor and the Peinador de la Reina. Then there was a drop in the conservation of the Alhambra, from the 18th century. During the French domination was blown up part of the fortress and until the 19th century did not begin its repair, restoration and conservation that continues to this day. The set currently includes the Museum of the Alhambra, with objects mainly from the site of the monument itself and the Museum of Fine Arts.

Panoramic view of the Alhambra with Sierra Nevada to the bottom.

The Generalife

Main article: Generalife

Generalife.

The Generalife is a garden area attached to the Alhambra which became in place of recreation and rest of the Granadan Muslim kings when they wanted to flee the official life of the Palace. It occupies the slopes of Cerro del Sol, from which are displayed throughout the city and the valleys of the Genil and the Darro. It was conceived as rural village, consisting of landscaping, gardens and architecture. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1984. It was built in the mid-13th century and was transformed by Abu I-Walid Isma'il. Is of Islamic Nasrid style. Today is one of the biggest attractions of the city of Granada.

It is difficult to know the original appearance of the Generalife, and it has been modifications and reconstructions throughout the Christian period, which disrupted their disposal and disfigured many of its aspects. All buildings of the Generalife, but solid, overall decor is austere and simple. Are only decorative plaster little variety, but of extreme delicacy and good taste. In the last third of the 20th century, a part of the gardens were destroyed to build an auditorium.

Cathedral

Main article: Cathedral of Granada

Cathedral of Granada - south portal

The cathedral of Granada is built over the Nasrid Great Mosque of Granada, in the center of the city. Its construction began during the Spanish Renaissance, early 16th century, shortly after the conquest of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs, commissioning the works to Juan Gil de Hontañón and Enrique Egas. In the reign of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor were built numerous buildings in the city of Granada, so that the cathedral is contemporary to the Christian palace of the Alhambra, the University and the Real Chancillería (supreme court).

The church was conceived on the model of the Cathedral of Toledo, for what initially was a Gothic project, as was customary in Spain in the early decades of the 16th century. However, when Egas relieved and it ordered the continuation of the work to Diego Siloe in 1529, he took up the project built upon the example and changed the approach towards a fully Renaissance aesthetics.

The author traced the Renaissance lines around all building over the Gothic foundations, with ambulatory and five naves instead of the usual three. Over the time, continued to develop artistic projects of importance. This is the case for the reform of the main facade, undertaken in 1664 by Alonso Cano (1601-1667), in introducing Baroque elements. In 1706 Francisco de Hurtado Izquierdo and later his collaborator José Bada built the current tabernacle of the cathedral.

Of the components of the church, highlights the Main chapel, where it found the praying statues of the Catholic Monarchs, which consists of a series of Corinthian columns on which capitals is the entablature and over it the vault, that is, as the spaces below, on the columns, perforated, hosting a series of windows. The tabernacle, of 1706, remains the classic proportions of the church, keeping the multiple columns of the crossing the order forms of Siloé.

Royal Chapel

Main article: Royal Chapel of Granada

The Royal Chapel of Granada is united and connected with other granadan important buildings as the Lonja and the Catedral e Iglesia del Sagrario. It was built over the former solar of the Great Mosque. There are buried the Catholic Monarchs, his daughter Joanna of Castile and Philip I of Castile. The Catholic Monarchs chosen as burial site the city of Granada, by Royal Decree dated September 13, 1504. Its construction started in 1505 by Enrique Egas and in there it join the Gothic, present in factory and decoration, the Renaissance, in tombs, and the Granadan art of 17th and 18th centuries, present in the Chapel of Santa Cruz. Over the years was acquiring more works of art, liturgical objects and relics.

The Royal Chapel was declared a Historic Artistic Monument on May 19, 1884, taking consideration of B.I.C. (Bien de Interés Cultural) in the current legislation of the Spanish Historical Heritage (Law 16/1985 of 25 June). The most important parts inside the temple are its main retable, grid and vault. In the Sacristy-Museum is the legacy of the Catholic Monarchs. Highlights its art gallery with works of the Flemish, Italian and Spanish schools.

• 
  Hans Memling - Diptych of Granada, left wing:Acceptance of the Cross, h. 1475
• 
  Roger van der Weyden - Birth of Christ, 1435-1438
• 
  Sandro Botticelli - Prayer of the Garden, 1498-1500

Albayzín

Main article: Albayzín

Albaicín.

The Albayzín (or Albaicín) is a neighborhood of Al-Andalus origin, much visited by tourists who flock to the city because of its historical connotations, architectural and landscapes.

The archeological findings in the area show that the place was inhabited since ancient times. Its more relevant had it with the arrival of the zirid, (1013), when that was surrounded by defensive walls. It is one of the ancient centers of Granada, as same as the Alhambra, the Realejo and the Arrabal de Bib-Rambla, in the flat part of the city. Its current extension runs from the walls of the Alcazaba to the cerro of San Miguel and on the other hand, from the Puerta de Guadix to the Alcazaba.

This neighborhood had its greatest development in the Nasrid era, and therefore largely maintains the urban fabric of this period, with narrow streets arranged in an intricate network that extends from the top, called San Nicolás, to the river Darro and Calle Elvira, located in Plaza Nueva. The traditional type of housing is the Carmen granadino, consisting of a free house surrounded by a high wall that separates it from the street and includes a small orchard or garden. In the Muslim era was characterized as a focus of many revolts against the power. At that time, was the residence of craftsmen, industrialists and aristocrats. With the Christian reconquest, would progressively lose its splendor. The Christians built churches and settled there the Real Chancillería. In times of Philip II of Spain, after the rebellion and subsequent expulsion of the moors, the district was depopulated. In 1994 it was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site. Of its architectural wealth among others include the Ziri walls of the Alcazaba Cadima, the Nasrid walls, the towers of the Alcazaba, the churches of El Salvador (former main mosque), San Cristóbal, San Miguel Alto and the Real Chancillería.

Sacromonte

Main article: Sacromonte

The Sacromonte neighborhood is located in the Valparaíso hill, one of several hills that make up Granada. This neighborhood is known for be the old neighborhood of the gipsies, who settled in Granada after the conquest of the city. It is one of the neighborhoods most picturesque of the city, full of typical, whitewashed caves, where sound strumming guitars, cantes and "quejíos", so that over time has become one of the most important tourist attractions in Granada .

At the top of this hill is the Abbey of Sacromonte and the College of Sacromonte, founded in the 17th century by the then Archbishop of Granada Pedro de Castro. The Abbey of Sacromonte was built to monitor and guard the relics of the evangelists of Baetica. Since the first findings the area became a center of pilgrimage.

The complex consists of the Catacombs, The Abbey (17th-18th centuries), the Colegio Viejo de San Dionisio Areopagita (17th century) and the Colegio Nuevo (19th century). The interior of the church is sober andsmall but has excellent works of art, highlighting the size of the Crucificado de Risueño, object of devotion of these people, who sing and dance in the procession of Holy Week. The facilities include a museum, which houses the works that met the Foundation.

Charterhouse

Main article: Granada Charterhouse

Tabernacle Dome, Granada Charterhouse.

La Charterhouse of Granada is a monastery of cloistered monks, which is located in what was a farm or muslim almunia called Aynadamar that means Fountain of the Tears, and had a wealth of water and fruit trees. The initiative to build the monastery in that place went by Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba known as El Gran Capitán. The works were made in the first half of the 16th century.

The Monastery suffered heavy damage during the Peninsular War and lost considerable ground in 1837 as a result of the confiscations of Mendizábal. Currently, the monastery belongs to the Carthusians, reporting directly to the Archdiocese of Granada.

The entrance via to at complex is a cover of Plateresque style. Through it reaches a large courtyard, at which a wide staircase leading to the entrance of the church. The church is of 16th century, has three entrances, one for the faithfuls and the other two for monks and laymen. Its plant has a single nave divided into four sections, highlighting the retables of Juan Sánchez Cotán and the cancel with glass doors adorned with pearl shell, silver, precious woods and ivory. In the presbytery, covered with elliptical vault, stands the main altar, made of gilded wood that leaving transparent the large glass, within an arch, between the presbytery of Sancta Santorum.

The tabernacle and Sancta Santorum is considered one of the most comprehensive baroque sets of Spanish art, whose interior decoration blend architecture, painting and sculpture. The dome that covers this area, it decorated with fresco by the Cordovan artist Antonio Palomino (18th century), representing the triumph of the Church Militant, the faith and religious life. The yard is centered by a fountain, and to it, opened galleries arches on columns of Doric capital. The Chapter House of Legos is the oldest building of the monastery (1517). Is rectangular and covered with groin vault.

Districts

File:Gran Vía de Granada con Plaza de Isabel la Católica.jpg

Catholic Monarchs Street (Calle Reyes Católicos)

Royal Gate (Puerta Real)

Albayzín neighbourhood

The Realejo

Realejo was the Jewish district at the time of the Nasride Granada. The Jewish population was so important, that Granada was known from the Al-Andalûs Country under the name of Granada de los judios (in Arabic, Garnata Al Yahood). It is today a district made up of many Andalusian villas, with gardens opening onto the streets, called Los Carmenes.

The Cartuja

This district contains the Carthusian monastery of the same name: Cartuja. This is an old monastery started in a late Gothic style with Baroque exuberant interior decorations. In this district also, many buildings were created with the extension of the University of Granada.

Bib-Rambla

The toponym existed at the time of the Arabs. Nowadays, Bib-Rambla is a high point for gastronomy, especially in its terraces of restaurants, open on beautiful days. The Arab bazaar (Alcaicería) is made up of several narrow streets, which start from this place and continue as far as the cathedral

Sacromonte

Main article: Sacromonte

The Sacromonte neighbourhood is located on the extension of the hill of Albaicín, along the Darro River. This area, which became famous by the nineteenth century for its predominantly Gitano inhabitants, is characterized by cave houses, which are dug into the hillside. The area has a reputation as a major center of flamenco song and dance, including the Zambra Gitana, Andalusian dance originating in the Middle East. The zone is a protected cultural environment under the auspices of the Centro de Interpretación del Sacromonte, a cultural center dedicated to the preservation of Gitano cultural forms.

Albayzín

Main article: Albayzín

Albayzín (also written as Albaicín), located on a hill on the right bank of the river Darro, is the ancient Moorish quarter of the city and transports the visitor to a unique world: the site of the ancient city of Elvira, so-called before the Zirid Moors renamed it Granada. It housed the artists who went up to build the palaces of Alhambra on the hill facing it. Time allowed its embellishment. Of particular note is the Plaza de San Nicolas (Plaza of St Nicholas) from where a stunning view of the Alhambra can be seen. The artist George Owen Wynne Apperley RA RI (1884–1960) owned houses on both sides of the Placeta de San Nicolás, also known as El Mirador.

Zaidin

This blue collar neighbourhood houses 100,000 residents of Granada, making it the largest neighborhood or 'barrio'. Traditionally populated by gypsies, now many residents are from North and West Africa, China, and many South American countries. Every Saturday morning it hosts a large outdoor market or "mercadillo", where many gypsies come and sell their wares of fruits and vegetables, clothes and shoes, and other odds and ends.

A panoramic view from Generalife

Parks and gardens in Granada

The city of Granada has a significant number of parks and gardens with many historic and popular entailments, between these natural areas are the following:

Fountain of the Triumph

• The gardens of Alhambra and Generalife
• Campo del Príncipe Gardens
• Gardens of the Royal Hospital
• Gardens of Paseo del Salón and of la Bomba (BIC)
• Gardens of the Triumph
• Gardens of Violón
• The Córdoba Gardens Palace

• Zaidín Park
• Plaza de la Trinidad
• 28 de Febrero Park
• Almunia de Aynadamar Park
• Federico García Lorca Park
• Fuente Nueva University Park

Climate

Climate data for Granada (altitude: 687 m)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	12.2 (54.0)	14.1 (57.4)	17.0 (62.6)	18.8 (65.8)	23.1 (73.6)	28.8 (83.8)	33.5 (92.3)	33.2 (91.8)	28.5 (83.3)	21.9 (71.4)	16.2 (61.2)	13.1 (55.6)	21.7 (71.1)
Daily mean °C (°F)	6.8 (44.2)	8.4 (47.1)	10.7 (51.3)	12.6 (54.7)	16.5 (61.7)	21.3 (70.3)	25.3 (77.5)	25.1 (77.2)	21.2 (70.2)	15.7 (60.3)	10.6 (51.1)	7.9 (46.2)	15.2 (59.4)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	1.3 (34.3)	2.6 (36.7)	4.3 (39.7)	6.4 (43.5)	9.8 (49.6)	13.9 (57.0)	17.1 (62.8)	17.1 (62.8)	14.0 (57.2)	9.5 (49.1)	5.1 (41.2)	2.8 (37.0)	8.7 (47.7)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	44 (1.7)	36 (1.4)	37 (1.5)	40 (1.6)	30 (1.2)	16 (0.6)	3 (0.1)	3 (0.1)	17 (0.7)	40 (1.6)	46 (1.8)	49 (1.9)	361 (14.2)
Average precipitation days	6	6	6	7	5	2	0	1	2	5	6	7	54
Mean monthly sunshine hours	161	161	207	215	268	314	348	320	243	203	164	147	2,751
Source: Agencia Estatal de Meteorología

Sport

Granada has three football teams:

• Granada, in Segunda División A.
• Granada 74, in Tercera División.
• Granada Atlético, in Tercera División.

Granada has a basketball team:

• CB Granada, in Liga ACB

Skiing:

• FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1996

Twin towns - sister cities

• Aix-en-Provence, France
• Belo Horizonte, Brazil
• Coral Gables, United States
• Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
• Marrakech, Morocco
• Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
• Tetuán, Morocco
• Tlemcen, Algeria

See also

• El Fandi
• History of the Jews in Spain
• Spanish Inquisition

References

• Cortés Peña, Antonio Luis and Bernard Vincent. Historia de Granada. 4 vols. Granada: Editorial Don Quijote, 1983.
• Historia del reino de Granada. 3 vols. Granada: Universidad de Granada, Legado Andalusí, 2000.

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

• City council of Granada
• Website of the Granada Tourist Office
• Timelapse Granada HD
• Photos of Granada
• English language magazine for the region
• Granada at Curlie
• Webcam Granada/Alhambra
• Virtual tour around Granada
• [1]