Cathedral of Granada

The Pope Innocent VIII, in the year 1486, conceded license to the Catholic Kings to build and erect temples in Muslim places conquered from Granada Reign. The first church consecrated in Granada was the Alhambra mosque, on May 21st, 1492.

The Cathedral was built inside the mosque, at the heart of the old Medina, Granada. But it soon became small, so they decided to build a new plan on October 14, 1501. The first stone was placed on March 25, 1523, the day of the Incarnation Festivity, the mistery it is consecrated to. Its construction was dilated from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century, presenting three artistic styles; Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque. Also, there were several artists involved in its construction, among which we highlight Enrique Egas, Diego de Siloe and Alonso Cano.

Gothic sketches

The first plan or sketch is ascribed to the master Enrique Egas, who just copied Toledo Cathedral and added ambulatory and headwall. It is important to take into account that, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Spanish ecclesiastical authorities considered Gothic style as the ideal one for the construction of Cathedrals.

The new Renaissance style

In 1528, the works direction was ordered to the master Diego de Siloe, trained in Italy (1495-1563), who was in those years in Granada building the Monastery of San Jeronimo. Siloe changed the original Gothic project for a more italianizing one. With these changes, he provoked a certain discontent given that many thought that this new Roman style clashed with the Gothic style of the Royal Chapel.

Diego de Siloe was one of the first Spanish architects who combined Italian Renaissance art with Spanish Gothic and Hispano-Muslim art. His influence was crucial, he created a classicist style of his own which, from that time, would be followed in another Andalusian constructions.

Early Baroque

From Alonso Cano's contributions we can highlight the magnificent main facade, included inside the canons of the Early Spanish Baroque but preserving some deep classical flavor elements.

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