San Jeronimo Monastery

The Great Captain’s Monastery

The monastery was founded in the sixteenth century in the neighborhood of La Duquesa, an area where the nobles were settled after the conquest of Granada in 1492, including Don Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba and his wife Dona Maria Manrique, Duchess of Sessa. Nowadays you can find there Lopez de Argüeta and Gran Capitan streets.

Works started following a Gothic Project, as was usual in this type of buildings subject to Catholic kings’ patronage. Later on, these buildings were transformed by the new Renaissance trends coming from Italy. This change was due to the fact that the Duchess of Sessa took over construction costs, asking in return the Chapel as a crypt for her burial her husband’s. It was usual that nobles financed works in exchange for burial privileges in those temples. We must not forget that over forty convents were established between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Granada.

The whole monastic complex was carried out in the sixteenth century, except for wall paintings that were executed in the eighteenth. The complex is composed by the church and two cloisters around which rooms and other premises for monks are located.

The Church

The Church has basilical plan of just one nave, with rib vault, side chapels and a main chapel with barrel vaults and dome resting on pendentives. All these covers are decorated with relieves based on the caisson of the crossing and in the chapel, by Siloe and his school. We also find frescoes on the walls and dome of the nave, carried out by Juan de Medina.

The altarpieces have the function of teaching the episodes of Christ's life, the Virgin and Saints through plasticity. The first ones appear in the thirteenth century, when wall paintings tend to disappear. The magnificent altarpiece of the Chapel was carried out between 1570 and 1605 and has characteristics of both the Renaissance and Mannerism, being composed by a predella, three floors, double attic, three sections and eave. On both sides you can find the orating figures of the Great Captain and Duchess of Sessa.

The choir stalls stand out, they are situated at the foot of the temple and were performed by Siloe. The organ dates from the eighteenth century.

The Facade

The façade has three bodies. The entrance door is framed by an arch and flanked by double fluted columns supporting the entablature. This entablature supports the niche that reflects the relief of San Jeronimo. On the second body, we can find the crest of Catholic Kings and their initials together with a big glass window flanked by great figures and roundels with busts of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

The tower is erected on the right side. The last body was dismantled by Napoleon's troops to build, with its stones, the Green Bridge on Genil River.

The temple external headwall is octagonal and have buttresses that give it a medieval character. This character is softened by Renaissance relieves where the crest of the Great Captain and his wife carried by soldiers with axes appear. These soldiers are in Roman tradition. In addition, there are medallions, busts and inscriptions alluding to the Great Captain and various allegories.

The Cloisters

It has two different cloisters, both in style and dimensions. The larger is formed by 2 stories with open galleries, the lower one has rounded arches with Gothic capitals. Among the units that are articulated in this court, seven facades of the "Profundis" or funeral chapels are included. It was conducted by Diego de Siloe with a Renaissance decoration.

In the second cloister, three styles that coexisted in Spain are brought together; Gothic, Renaissance and Mudejar. It features double galleries, the lower with rounded arches on columns in Mudejar style. The highest has segmental arches and balustrade, which was rebuilt in 1965 following a fire.

This monastery suffered the plundering of their wealth in the invasion of the French armies in the War of Independence of 1808 and the Confiscation of Mendizabal in 1835. It was a military barracks for a time and, in 1967, the nuns of the Order of San Jeronimo settled there. In the last restoration, part of the tower that was dismantled by the French armies was rebuilt.

We recommend…

On an old nineteenth-century restored building is the Villa Oniria Hotel, in the heart of town. This small and cozy hotel has 31 rooms carefully decorated, offering all the necessary services for your comfort. It has a small spa with sauna, jacuzzi and swimming pool; at its restaurant you can find a wide and representative sample of local gastronomy.

At the Hotel "Granada Center", in front of the Faculty of Sciences of Granada’s University, is located the restaurant "Al-Zagal", which has earned a deserved place among the best restaurants in the city. It offers a wide selection of traditional cuisine with innovative touches.