Corral del Carbon (Coal House)

It is an alhondiga (corn exchange place), a public building that served as a warehouse for cereal harvest to be sold at auction. It was also a hostel for dealers who came to Granada to sell their products.

In the Nazari period, it was part of the most important shopping area of the city besides the Alcaiceria, the souk and the Mosque. You could get from the Alhondiga to the souk through a bridge over Darro River.

New Alhondiga

Its original name is New Alhondiga “Al-Funduq al-Gidida”. It was built in 1336 and has a square plan articulated into a central courtyard open to the outside on the northern side through an entrance pavilion consisting of facade, porch and entrance door.

The facade is formed by two brick pillars framing a large pointed horseshoe arch. The spandrels, called albanegas in Muslim Art, were the spaces between arch and alfiz, decorated with plasterworks and featuring plant elements with geometric plasterworks, that is to say, ataurique. Over the alfiz, there is a frieze with the following inscription of praise: "God is one, God is the only one, He did not beget nor was He begotten, nor has any companion”. Supported by a lintel, there is a second body comprising a geminate window, a mullioned window (or ajimez) open in the middle and two blind arches on each side decorated with a diamond lattice, called sebka. The facade is surmounted by a projecting eave in wood which is widely used in Nazari architecture.

Vault of Mocarabes

The hallway is covered with a mocarabe or stalactite vault, consisting of prisms in the shape of stalactites. It has another linteled door leading into the courtyard, with a mullioned window on the top.

The courtyard has three floors with galleries formed by stone pillars on the ground floor and brick on top. In the middle, there is a fountain with two spouts. Around these galleries, the premises for animals, goods and people were located.

After the Christian conquest, it was used for several duties. The Catholic Monarchs gave it to Sancho de Arana but, after his death and after being auctioned, it was allocated for the use of charcoal burners, hence its current name. In the sixteenth century it served as Corral de Comedias (A theater set in a house courtyard) and from the XVII it was used as a tenement.

It now houses the Provincial Delegation of Culture of the Andalusian Government, the Andalusian Legacy Foundation and the Ciudad de Granada Orchestra, so several cultural events are held there. Located on Mariana Pineda street, it was declared Cultural Interest Site in 1991.