GRANADA

GRANADA, a city of Spain, and the capital of a province of the same name, is situated on the Xeníl, at the influx of the Darro. The Moorish name of this famous city is Kar-nattah, "the city of strangers," composed of the Arabic Kar, the same as the Celtic caer, or cahir, "an eminence," or what is built on it, and nattah, "a pilgrim," or "stranger."² Others consider it the name of a local goddess. At the Moorish invasion one of Tarik's generals gave Kar-nattah, or Granada, to the Jews, whence it was called Kar-nattah-el-Yahood. It occupied the site of the modern Torres Bernejas, and ranged above the Campo del Principe, being quite distinct from Illiberis (which in Basque means "new city"), with which it has been often confounded. Illiberis was built on the Sierra Elvira.³ Granada stands partly on level ground near the river, at an elevation of 2445 feet above the sea, and partly on the slopes of two adjacent hills. It is divided into four quarters—the Alhambra with the faubourg Churna; the City properly so called; the Albaycin faubourg; and the Antequeruela faubourg. Of these the city proper is surrounded by high walls, flanked by towers now in ruins; the Alhambra and the Albaycin have separate walls and ramparts; but the Antequeruela is quite open. On the summit of the Alhambra Hill stand the magnificent remains of the regal palace, which attest the perfection of art among the Moors, as well as the splendour of their princes during their palmy days in the Peninsula. (See ALHAMBRA.) The Albaycin occupies the other hill; the Antequeruela is the chief residence of the working classes; the town proper occupies the space between the two hills, and extends into the plains. The streets are generally narrow and tortuous; but the houses are tolerably well built, while their oriental structure and antiquity render them objects of great interest. There are several handsome squares, and a number of public fountains in the town. Though the great object of attraction is the Alhambra, Granada contains several other edifices worthy of notice. The cathedral, though an irregular and heavy building, is profusely ornamented with jasper and coloured marble. It is surmounted with a dome resting on twelve arches upheld by as many pilasters, beneath which stands its richly decorated high altar. In the adjoining royal chapel are numerous fine monuments, among which are those of their "Catholic majesties," Ferdinand and Isabella. The church of Nuestra Señora de las Angustias has a splendid high altar and two magnificent towers. The church of San José is an elegant modern edifice built on the site of a very ancient one, of which the tower still stands. Among the other public buildings of Granada may be mentioned the unfinished palace of the Emperor Charles; the monastery of San Gerónimo, founded by the famous Gonzalo de Córdoba, whose remains were deposited in a splendid mausoleum in its church; the old Carthusian convent, situated

New Granada. on an eminence in the suburbs, and adorned with paintings by Murillo, Morales, and Cano; the Generalife, a Moorish palace, surrounded with gardens and fountains; the episcopal palace; the university; and the general hospital. Its manufactures are unimportant; the chief being silk and coarse woolen stuffs, hats, and paper. It has, also, a royal manufactory for saltpetre and gunpowder. The trade of the city is insignificant, and carried on entirely in the weekly markets, which are lively and well attended. The roads to Granada are kept in wretched repair, so that during the rainy season it is nearly isolated from the rest of the world.

Granada was founded by the Moors in the tenth century, near the site of the ancient Illiberis, and at first belonged to the kingdom of Córdoba. In A.D. 1235 it became the capital of the new kingdom of Granada, and rose to almost unparalleled splendour. Its population at this time is said to have amounted to 500,000. In 1491, when it had become the last stronghold of the Moors in Spain, it mustered the extraordinary number of 60,000 men to defend it against the Christian forces of Ferdinand and Isabella. The besiegers, after innumerable deeds of valour on both sides, gained possession of the city, January 2, 1492, when the banner of Castile first floated on the towers of the Alhambra. The Moors still continued to constitute the great body of the inhabitants till 1610, when they were expelled from all parts of Spain; and in no part of the kingdom was this severe and impolitic proceeding more keenly felt than in Granada, which has never recovered from its effects. Pop. (in 1845) 70,025.

Ginez Perez de Hita, Historia de los Moros de Granada; Washington Irving, A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada, London, 1829, 2 vols. 8vo; Luis de Marmol, Historia de los Moriscos de Granada, Malaga, 1600, folio; Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, Guerres de Granada que hizo Felipe II. contra los Moriscos; Roussy, Historie d'Espagne depuis les premiers temps jusqu'à nos jours, Paris, 1839-47, vols. i.-vii. But especially—Madoz, Diccionario Geografico-Estadistico-Histórico de Espana, Madrid, 1847-1851: this is the most elaborate and trustworthy historical, geographical, and statistical work on Spain. See also the fine plates of Antiquedades Arabes de Granada y Córdoba, and the magnificent volume of Murphy.