Convent of Santa Cruz la Real

The Church was part of the former convent of Santa Cruz la Real in Realejo neighborhood. This convent was founded by the Catholic Kings a few months after conquering the city. From the whole monastic complex, only the sixteenth century Senate remains. The Church was erected in the old Al-Hayar mosque lot. It has a Latin cross with a single nave with five chapels on each side, crossing, chancel and choir. The vault has ribs and golden ceiling roses.

The Portico

The façade, opens onto Santo Domingo square with a portico of three arches, on Doric columns and capitals decorated with heads of angels. In the spaces between the arches, the spandrels, the initials of Fernando and Isabel, their crests and those of the Emperor Carlos are placed. The ceiling is covered with moldings and the façade is decorated with paintings that mimic the facade of a church. On the portico, there is a semicircular arch framing a double arched window. The whole set is completed with a frieze featuring lions and, in the center, Florenzano cross, the emblem of Dominican order.

The dome of the crossing is on a tambour. It is decorated using motifs to praise the crown. In the tambour windows, paintings and angels with floral motifs alternate. Also, the choir has decorative elements based on yoke, arrows and shields of the Catholic Kings and Carlos V. It is set on the feet and is of major proportions.

The Cloister

The cloister was finished in 1624. Its elevation is two stories, with galleries open to the patio through round arches between the Tuscan pilasters of the lower floor and mutula capitals on the upper. It is an original presentation that makes this courtyard different from all other courts set in the context of Granada’s Mannerism of the time. In its decoration, the Order emblem, the attribute of Santo Domingo de Guzman, a dog with fire in the mouth, the Catholic Kings’ initials and the yoke and arrows are all still used.

The staircase leading to the upper floor is located in the west wing. It is defined as an imperial type staircase, beginning with a stretch and then split in two. It was finished in 1597. A half-orange vault covers it and is highly decorated with stucco and painting base where Renaissance and Baroque iconography is full of religious and monarchist symbolism.