The whole history of Granada Cathedral

The history of the Cathedral of Granada makes sense as a result of the imperial city project of Charles I of Spain. His maternal grandparents, the Catholic Monarchs, began work in 1492 which the Emperor wished to continue.

History of the Cathedral of Granada

We will now review the history of the Cathedral of Granada, starting with the imperial project and ending with its construction.

The imperial project

In Renaissance Granada, two important decisions were taken, both urbanistically and architecturally speaking. The Emperor's palace in the Alhambra and the complex comprising the Lonja, Royal Chapel and Cathedral in the city centre.

There were various reasons why the imperial project and burial place of the Emperor and his dynastic successors could not be completed.

Foundation

Its history began on 14 May 1492 with the creation of the Chapter and the foundation of the Cathedral. It had its provisional headquarters in the Royal Mosque of the Alhambra and was dedicated to Our Lady of the Incarnation.

On 23 January 1493, Fray Hernando de Talavera was appointed Archbishop of Granada. It was just one year later, in 1494, when the first transfer of the Cathedral began in October. From the Alhambra, the seat and the chapterhouse were moved to the church of Santa María in the Realejo, and later to San Francisco Casa Grande. In 1502 a new and definitive transfer was authorised by Alexander VI.

Queen Isabella was keen for the old mosque to be the site of the new cathedral. This did not meet the conditions for it, so she gave way to the idea of building a new church in the centre of the city. The Royal Chapel was the starting point.

Construction

In order to understand the history of the Cathedral of Granada, we must talk about its construction. There were two, or even three, architectural projects for the Cathedral of Granada.

1. In 1506, the late Gothic design of a polygonal chancel with five naves by Enrique Egas.
2. According to a very plausible hypothesis, a late Gothic project based on the architectural model of the straight chancel of Seville Cathedral in 1509.
3. The third Renaissance project is attributed to Diego de Siloé in 1528. This project, with the collaboration of Pedro Ramiro de Alba, is linked to the political and religious situation, as well as to Charles I's decision to make the cathedral of Granada the dynastic mausoleum of the new monarchy of the Habsburgs.

As for the first project, we can say that it included, in addition to the funerary temple of the Royal Chapel, the outlines of the Cathedral, with a polygonal chevet and five naves. This first project was in the Gothic style, the precedents for which were the Cathedrals of Toledo and Seville.

In 1521, when the chapter had the money it needed to expropriate the houses that occupied the site, it set about starting and proceeding with whatever remained to be done. In December of the same year, Egas appointed Sebastián de Alcántara as master builder. And it was on 25 March 1523 that Fray Hernando's first successor laid the first stone.

Before the dismissal of Egas, following the Gothic style, he had built the walls of the chancel and the northern part of the Cathedral up to the tower.

Finally, the visit of Charles I and Isabella of Portugal had a great impact on both the city and the Cathedral of Granada. During his stay, Charles I had the opportunity to see the chapel that his maternal grandmother, Isabella the Catholic, had established as the pantheon of the future kings of Spain.

The site chosen seemed to the Emperor to be somewhat inappropriate, so he adopted a compromise solution based on his grandmother's decision. This was based on fitting out the main chapel of the future Cathedral as the imperial pantheon for the lineage of the Habsburgs.

Granada was a spiritual and cultural centre where a Christian heritage flourished which is still present today. Today, it has many secrets that people still do not know. If you want to know what they are, click on the following link.

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