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Articles · Castilian conquest & the Moriscos

Granada After 1492: Articles on the Castilian Conquest and the Moriscos (Page 2)

The last Muslim kingdom falls in 1492 and Siloé raises Spain's first Renaissance cathedral.

The marble tomb of Isabella I and Ferdinand II by Domenico Fancelli in the Royal Chapel of Granada, with Isabelline Gothic vaulting and the gilded reja mayor grille in the background

Isabella of Castile in Granada: The Queen Who Chose Her Tomb Here

James Walker Updated

Isabella and Ferdinand are buried together in Granada's Royal Chapel — her 1504 will chose the city over Toledo, and their tomb took 17 years to build.

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White-walled village of Bubión in the Alpujarras above Granada, flat launa-sealed rooftop terraces and tinao covered street passages on a steep Sierra Nevada hillside at midday, illustrating Alpujarras Morisco villages history architecture

The Alpujarras Villages: Morisco Refuge After 1492

James Walker Updated

After 1492, the Alpujarras sheltered Granada's Morisco community for 80 years. Their tinaos, acequia channels, Berber chimneys, and flat launa roofs survive.

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The white launa-roofed village of Capileira in the Alpujarras above Granada, flat terraces and tinaos on a mountain hillside, Sierra Nevada peaks behind, illustrating the Morisco architectural legacy of the moriscos granada history expulsion

Moriscos of Granada: Secret Islam and the 1609 Expulsion

James Walker Updated

Forced to convert in 1502, Granada's Moriscos practised secret Islam under Inquisition surveillance for a century before Philip III expelled 270,000 in 1609.

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The Alhambra palace's ornate Islamic architecture, where the Alhambra Decree was signed in 1492, Granada, Spain

Alhambra Decree 1492: Granada's Jewish Expulsion Explained

James Walker Updated

The Alhambra Decree (Edicto de Granada) expelled Spain's Jews in 1492. Learn why it happened, what else happened in Spain that year, and where exiles went.

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Interior of Granada Cathedral at golden hour, the circular capilla mayor rotunda with twelve towering Ionic pillars, gold stars on a blue vaulted dome, clerestory light filtering through high windows in the Renaissance nave

Granada Cathedral: Siloé's Renaissance Blueprint

James Walker Updated

Granada Cathedral's history: built from 1523 to 1704, converted from Gothic to Spain's first Renaissance design in 1529 by Diego de Siloé's circular chapel.

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Photorealistic view inside the mosque courtyard of the Iglesia del Salvador in Granada's Albaicín neighbourhood, showing stone horseshoe-arch arcades from the original 13th-century Great Mosque, worn stone columns, and a central ablution cistern in warm afternoon light, Mudéjar art Granada architecture history

Mudéjar Granada: Islamic Art After the Reconquista

James Walker Updated

Mudéjar art in Granada: after 1492, Muslim craftsmen built Albaicín churches with horseshoe arches, sebka lattice and artesonado ceilings for Christian patrons.

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Tortilla del Sacromonte history origin Granada: a thick golden tortilla in a rustic clay cazuela on a wooden table inside a Sacromonte cave kitchen, whitewashed stone walls and iron cooking pots visible behind

Tortilla del Sacromonte: history of Granada's cave dish

Sarah Mills Updated

How 16th-century refugees in Granada's Sacromonte caves turned sheep offal into a fiercely local dish, and the feast day that keeps the tradition alive.

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Interior of the Royal Chapel sacristy museum in Granada, gilded altarpiece panels by Flemish masters displayed in a stone-vaulted Renaissance space, warm candlelight, Royal Chapel Granada paintings collection

Isabella I and the Flemish Masterpieces of Granada's Royal Chapel

James Walker Updated

Inside the Royal Chapel sacristy, Isabella I's Flemish paintings wait: Van der Weyden, Memling, Bouts, and a lone Botticelli. Most visitors never enter.

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Photorealistic 16th-century scene of the lead books sacromonte granada discovery: hillside caves above the Darro with scholars and Spanish clergy examining circular lead tablets inscribed in Arabic and Latin, warm amber evening light, Alhambra fortifications visible across the valley

The Lead Books of Sacromonte: Granada's Greatest Forgery

James Walker Updated

Lead tablets found in Sacromonte's caves, 1595–1606. Condemned by the Vatican in 1682. The Morisco scholars behind Granada's greatest religious forgery.

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Exterior of Sacromonte cave houses in Granada, whitewashed facades cut into the Alhambra-Formation conglomerate hillside above the Darro River valley, with the Alhambra visible in the background

Cave houses of Sacromonte: how Granada carved its hillside

James Walker Updated

Sacromonte's caves were dug from Alhambra conglomerate: Romani history, the 1963 flood evacuation, the €5 ethnographic museum, and the abbey's Santas Cuevas.

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Fajalauza ceramics Granada — hand-painted tin-glazed earthenware plates and bowls with cobalt blue pomegranate and bird motifs on white glaze, displayed at an Albaicín workshop

Fajalauza ceramics: Granada's 500-year pottery tradition

James Walker Updated

Fajalauza is Granada's 500-year pottery tradition: cobalt blue, pomegranate motifs, and one Albaicín workshop still hand-painting each piece since 1517.

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Circular courtyard of the Palacio de Carlos V Alhambra at golden hour, 32 Doric columns casting long shadows on stone paving, open sky above, Renaissance architecture inside Islamic palace complex

Palacio de Carlos V: the Alhambra's Renaissance Paradox

James Walker Updated

Charles V's Renaissance palace inside the Alhambra: circular courtyard finished 1637, roof not completed until 1967. Now free museums for EU visitors today.

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