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Cathedral
The elegant façade of the Cathedral was designed by Granada's most celebrated painter, Alonso Cano, who drew his inspiration from the ruins of ancient Rome.
The Granada Cathedral was universally considered, in its day, to be one of the most majestic churches in Christendom, rivalling St. Peter's in Rome. When the painter Diego Velázquez visited Granada in the early 17th century, he drew this sketch of it - from behind, with the great dome and soaring buttresses overlooking a jumble of streets later removed to make way for the Gran Vía. But there is no sign of his having taken any interest in the Alhambra, or any of the Moorish monuments.
The façade of the original door of the Royal Chapel is now enclosed by the nave of the cathedral, and seems quaintly medieval in contrast to the classical temple which soars around it.
If we compare this gate with the one currently used (inset), we can see how the builders, forced to open a new door on the Calle de Oficios, settled for a much less elaborate, Renaissance version of this exquisite, but forgotten piece of late Gothic artistry.
El Sagrario is a parochial church which stands on the southeast corner of the mass of buildings lumped together as "la Catedral". For many years after the conquest, the mosque which stood here served as the Cathedral, until the new building next to it was completed.
Click here to read related excerpts from the book, Granada, City of My Dreams
visit the Casas de Lorenzo in Montefrio
