The Streets and Cathedral of Granada
By Jesse Fusco
We awoke early this morning to catch the 7:30 A.M. train from Madrid to Granada, our next temporary home. Traveling through scenic vineyards and orchards, rolling hills, and with the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains guiding us, we pulled into the station and caught a bus to our new hotel. In Granada, we got lunch on our own and came together as a group for a tour of the significant sites within the city walls, learning about the fall of this once vibrant Islamic city to Los Reyes Catolicos, Ferdinand and Isabella. This tour gave us insight into the Castilian Spanish view of the ‘Reconquista’, from the site of the very event that spelled the end of Muslim rule in 1492, a since mythologized conquest that marked the onset of a new era of Spanish history, one which sought to rewrite the past.
The Emirate of Granada rule was the last Muslim state in Spain, and our tour guide explained how it covered the present-day provinces of Almería, Granada, and Málaga. At the heart of this state was the city of Granada, a thriving metropolis with Jews, Christians, and Muslims, which survived for over two centuries as a vestige of Al-Andalus in an Iberia increasingly dominated by Catholic powers. It was in this Granada that the Alhambra, which a colleague will discuss in greater depth tomorrow, was constructed, as well as the first site we visited today, the Dobla de Oro (Courtyard of Gold). Indicative of attempts to replicate the Garden of Eden on Earth in Al-Andalus, this fascinating structure included an irrigated garden with fountains fed from two different rivers, in case one ever ran dry. Granada at this time utilized this constant supply of water to produce some of the finest silk in the world at the time, a practice envied across Europe and which would collapse following the fall of the city.
Doble de Oro (left) and Trinity Plaza (right). Photographs by Jesse Fusco.
Our next stop was the Capilla Real, an ornate chapel built as the final resting place of Los Reyes Católicos, following there conquest of Granada. It is here that we learned of the myth-building surrounding the siege and subsequent fall of the city in 1492. While it is often portrayed as a surrender and victorious conquest, with a painting in the chapel depicting the keys to the city being surrendered to the victorious monarchs, in reality the Nasrid Emir Boabdil and his entourage left the city in a negotiated settlement, with Ferdinand and Isabella being absent until afterwards. In this crypt, which unfortunately was closed to photography, also lay the remains of the daughter of the monarchs, Joanna “la loca” of Castile, and her husband, Philip the Handsome of Austria. Joanna succumbed to the attempted establishment of a Spanish Empire; declared mad following the death of her husband by the men in her life, she would be locked in a convent in favor of her six-year-old son Charles V becoming monarch, living there until her death decades later, in her 70s. Charles would in time become Holy Roman Emperor, King of the Germans, King of Italy, Lord of the Netherlands, King of Castile, King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, and inheriting many other titles. Some of the beautiful artifacts kept in this site include the Scepter and Sword of Isabella, her religious books and cloaks, and art pieces including a beautiful work by Botticelli.
Catedral de Granada. Photographs by Jesse Fusco.
The Chapel was not the end of Christian ambition in Granada however, which was meant to solidify victory over the ‘Moors’ and establish the city as a New Jerusalem. Soon after the fall of Granada, the monarchs began construction on a magnificent church, a Cathedral which would not be completed until the 18th century. The Cathedral is one of the most impressive Renaissance style structures of the period, even more ornate than the comparatively humble Gothic Chapel housing the Monarchs. The light truly emulates reaching the heavens, and the organs, statues, and paintings are masterpieces of art in their own right.
The construction of the Cathedral of the Incarnation ironically marks the end of Granada’s importance. The Catholics, who so desired the city for symbolic and propagandistic purposes could not maintain it as the center of Iberia which it was. They could not maintain the mulberry trees and silk; they chose not to maintain the convivencia which had stood in Granada for centuries; and matters elsewhere distracted the monarchs. They would look towards the New World, Netherlands, Germany, and beyond; the Archbishop who was to reside in Granada would instead find a home in Madrid. But the remains of the time are wonderful, and we will continue to traverse them.
As we exited the Cathedral, we stumbled upon one of the countless ornamental bitter orange trees that cover the streetscape of Granada and the landscape of Andalucía. Citrus and fruit has long been an integral part of Andalusian cuisine and agriculture, with the city of Granada’s symbol being a pomegranate, a fruit which can be found in many gardens throughout the city. The fruits often fall around the city, and are swept away to keep the streets clean. We decided that, although local custom says the ornamental oranges aren’t appetizing and many children learn this the difficult way (trying the fruit), we too would pick one and decide for ourselves. It took three of us, including myself climbing on top of several people, but we managed to grab one – unsurprisingly it was quite bitter.
