Granada Cathedral

Granada Cathedral 1518 - 1714

Religion and similar cultural beliefs are deeply rooted in the city of Granada. These beliefs have changed and altered over the period of the city’s existence. This period of change is perhaps best manifested and realised in physical form through the present day existence of Granada Cathedral. The capture of Muslim Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492 is perhaps one of the key events in the city’s history. A treaty agreed by both Muslim inhibiters and the Catholic hierarchy was betrayed by the cardinal in 1499, as programmes of forced baptisms were undertaken. In 1501 the Castilian crown ordered that Granada’s Muslims convert to Christianity or emigrate. While many elites chose to emigrate to North Africa, the majority of the city’s Muslims converted to Christianity while keeping their Islam secretly, becoming Moriscos, Catholics of Moorish descent. The history of the Cathedral thus begins during the early 16th century as Granada took on a more Christian character due an influx of immigrants from the surrounding regions. The Cathedral was constructed on the site where previous a Muslim mosque had been situated. The Cathedral along with other similar Christian conversions helped transform the urban landscape of the region forever. The Cathedral fails to follow the common construction approach of most of its Spanish counterparts. The Cathedral relied upon

the capture of the Nasrid kingdom from its Muslim rulers in 1492 for its existence. The Cathedral commenced in 1518, with an early plan for a Gothic design. The foundations of the Cathedral were laid by Spanish architect Egas dating from 1518 to 1523 on top of the city’s primary mosque. The changing architectural styles are echoed in the changing architects and laborers such as Diego de Siloe who labored for almost four decades planning the structure from ground to cornice. It is de Siloe who is credited with planning the triforium and the five naves which are seen in plan today in place of the usual three naves found throughout Spain at the time. The chief architectural attraction within the Cathedral is the Capilla Mayor, a rotunda circled by an ambulatory. The

Capilla is surmounted by a 150 ft dome, perhaps inspired by Alberti’s Italian works. The graceful rotunda had two architectural layers, the upper one adorned by the artwork of Alonso Cano. Within the structure the Cathedral combines other orders of architecture. Several side chapels decorate the Cathedral. Subsequent architects included Juan de Maena (1563-1571), followed by Juan de Orea (1571-1590), and Ambrosio de Vico (1590 – 1600+). The ever changing history of the Cathedral is reflected in the changing architectural designs. In 1667 Cano altered the initial plan for the main façade, introducing Baroque elements. The true history of the Cathedral however had never been realized in built form. The two 81 meter towers foreseen in the plans remained inbuilt due to various reasons, the principal of which being financial. The Cathedral was finally completed in 1714, and remains one of the fulcrum points about which the city exists.

Gavin Doheny