The saga of the Granada Venegas family

        A mosque stood here, which, following customary practice, was temporarily used after the conquest as a church, until a Christian-style temple could be built nearby and which, before being itself demolished after the 19th century reform, gave the street its name, the Calle Santa Escolástica. The Moorish building was then bought by a Spanish nobleman who destroyed it and built his palace. His daughter and heir married a descendant of the illustrious Granada Venegas family. Their saga is worthy of a romantic novel. Over a century before the conquest, a child of the noble Venega family, lords of the town of Luque, was captured after a battle and brought up in the Nasrid Court, becoming a good Muslim aristocrat and founding a clan whose arabized name was Bannigas. When Granada was conquered, the members of this family, who had kept alive the memory of their Christian forefather, immediately reconverted to his faith and took their place as principal gentlemen of the city, being, of course, exempted from themeasures taken against the “authentic” moriscos. In the early part of the 20th century the palace was purchasedby the Spanish government to house, very appropriately, the Museum of History of Granada.

 

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