The modern history of Granada

What did the French do to the Alhambra in 1812?

French troops who had plundered the Alhambra evacuated it in 1812, and on the way out they left mines across the hill. Eight of the towers were blown up. The Patronato de la Alhambra, which runs the monument, lists the 1812 blasts as a negative episode in its history and ties them directly to the French army's withdrawal.

The damage could have been worse. A disabled sergeant, José García, is credited with stopping the demolition, and a plaque to him stands at the Plaza de los Aljibes. Many of the towers never regained their original form.

The blasts and the sergeant get their own treatment in Granada under Napoleon and the Alhambra.

How did the Alhambra go from ruin to national monument?

The Alhambra became a national monument in 1870, two years after the 1868 revolution took it out of the Crown's hands and gave it to the Spanish State. Before that came the 19th-century writers: Washington Irving did more than describe the place, in the words of one account, he stirred a dormant feeling about its decay.

State ownership did not end the danger. The fire broke out on 15 September 1890, and La Ilustración Española y Americana reported the Nasrid palace burning and the "richest jewel we inherited from Arab art" under threat. The fire is told in the 1890 Sala de la Barca fire article.

For the Alhambra before all this, see Moorish Granada.

How much of old Granada did the Gran Vía destroy?

By Martínez Ramos's estimate, the Gran Vía de Colón took about 20% of the city's area, almost 5 hectares. Construction ran from the 1890s to about 1934.

It was a late copy of Haussmann's Paris: an interior reform that cut through what the source calls a preexisting and obsolete urban structure. The project's own memorandum was unusually frank that landlords stood to gain from the demolitions. The route it opened between Plaza Nueva and Puerta Real is the result.

What disappeared, and who decided, is the subject of the Gran Vía de Colón demolition history.

What happened in Granada in July 1936?

At five o'clock on 20 July 1936 the Granada garrison revolted against the government, and the rebels took the city centre quickly. Loyalists held the Albaicín for several days until rebel artillery overcame them.

What followed was not improvised. A University of Granada historian, Alberto Moya Hidalgo, argues that the repression was organised and prepared by senior military figures months before the coup. Wikipedia's account of the coup gives about 5,000 people executed in the city during the war, though earlier estimates run higher. The prison, built for about 400, held more than 2,000.

Federico García Lorca was among the dead: arrested after the rebels' triumph and shot near Víznar in August 1936. Secondary sources disagree on the exact day, so treat any single date with caution. His last hours are in Lorca's last day and the Víznar killing, and the coup itself in the July 1936 coup in Granada.

To visit the places tied to him, use the García Lorca in Granada guide.

Why does the 1922 Cante Jondo contest matter?

The Concurso de Cante Jondo of 1922 was conceived and started by the composer Manuel de Falla, with early and strong backing from Lorca. It was a two-day evening event held outdoors at the Alhambra. Lorca, who was 23 when he began campaigning for it, was its most active organiser after Falla. The contest ran on 13 and 14 June 1922.

Falla lived in Granada from 1920 (some sources say 1921) to 1939. When Franco won the Civil War he left for Argentina and kept working on Atlántida there. Read Manuel de Falla's Granada years for the composer, and Ángel Barrios for the circle around him.

For the living tradition, see the flamenco guide and Sacromonte.

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