The Corral del Carbón, originally al-Funduq al-Jadida, is a 14th-century historic building in the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

city of

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

(

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

). It is the only '' funduq'' (commercial warehouse or inn) or ''alhóndiga'' preserved from the Nasrid period in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

. The building is located south of the Albaicin quarter, near the present-day

Cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

(formerly the city's Great Mosque).

History

The building dates from the

Nasrid The Nasrid dynasty ( ''banū Naṣr'' or ''banū al-Aḥmar''; ) was an Arab dynasty that ruled the Emirate of Granada from 1232 to 1492. It was the last Muslim dynasty in the Iberian Peninsula. Twenty-three sultans ruled Granada from the foun ...

period but the exact date of its construction is not known. It is believed to be from the early 14th century, before 1336 (when it is mentioned in some historical documents). Its original name was ''al-Funduq al-Jadida'' or "the New

Inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway. Before the advent of motorized transportation, they also provided accomm ...

/Warehouse". Like other urban

caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was an inn that provided lodging for travelers, merchants, and Caravan (travellers), caravans. They were present throughout much of the Islamic world. Depending on the region and period, they were called by a ...

s (known as ''funduq''s in

al-Andalus Al-Andalus () was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most o ...

and

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

) at that time, it was a commercial and trading center serving as a warehouse for grain and as an inn and storage facility for merchants from outside the city. The existence of caravanserais can be traced in part from the Greek ''pandocheion'' structures (from which the word ''funduq'' derives),M. Bloom et al. (2009), "Caravanserai" through the later Roman

horreum A ''horreum'' (plural: ''horrea'') was a type of public warehouse used during the ancient Roman period. Although the Latin term is often used to refer to granaries. By the end of the imperial period, the city of Rome had nearly 300 ''horrea'' to s ...

until

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic times. While most funduqs in al-Andalus were modest buildings which have since disappeared, the Funduq al-Jadida reportedly belonged to the wives of the Nasrid sultans and thus had a more monumental appearance. It was located next to the city's central

bazaar A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets th ...

, the ''qaysariyya'' (known today as the Alcaicería), which in turn was located next to the city's Great Mosque (its main

Friday mosque A congregational mosque or Friday mosque (, ''masjid jāmi‘'', or simply: , ''jāmi‘''; ), or sometimes great mosque or grand mosque (, ''jāmi‘ kabir''; ), is a mosque for hosting the Friday noon prayers known as ''jumu'ah''.See: * * * * ...

), occupied today by the

. A small bridge, called ''al-qantarat al-jadida'' ("new bridge") until 1501 and later ''Puente del carbón'' or ''Puente del Álamo'' or ''Puente de los Curtidores'' (Q''antarat al-Dabbayin''), was located on the Darro River and linked the building with the bazaar. In 1494, after the

fall of Granada The Granada War was a series of military campaigns between 1482 and 1492 during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, against the Nasrid dynasty's Emirate of Granada. It ended with the defeat of G ...

to Christian Spain, the

Catholic Monarchs The Catholic Monarchs were Isabella I of Castile, Queen Isabella I of Crown of Castile, Castile () and Ferdinand II of Aragon, King Ferdinand II of Crown of Aragón, Aragon (), whose marriage and joint rule marked the ''de facto'' unification of ...

granted it to their lieutenant, Juan de Arana or Sancho Arana. Upon his death in 1531 the building was sold by

public auction A government auction or a public auction is an auction held on behalf of a government in which the property to be auctioned is either property owned by the government or property which is sold under the authority of a court of law or a governmen ...

and became a theatrical courtyard (a ''

corral de comedias ''Corral de comedias'' () is a type of open-air theatre specific to Spain. In Spanish all secular plays were called ''comedias'', which embraced three genres: tragedy, drama, and comedy itself. During the Spanish Golden Age, ''corrals'' became p ...

'') until at least 1593. During this period the interior of the building was modified in order to accommodate theater audiences. It was then used in the 17th century as a

tenement A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, E ...

or residential complex while the ground floor was used as a place to weigh and store

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

, which gave the building its present name Corral del Carbón ("Courtyard of Coal"). In 1887, the Commission of Historical and Artistic Monuments of the province of Granada requested to purchase the building from its private owners. In 1918, it was declared a National Monument but was threatened by a state of disrepair. Finally, in 1928,

Leopoldo Torres Balbás Leopoldo Torres Balbás (23 May 1888, in Madrid – 21 November 1960, in Madrid) was a Spanish scholar, architect, and restorer. He was an important figure in the early 20th century conservation and restoration of monuments. Much of his work focuse ...

, the curator and chief architect of the Alhambra, arranged for the property to be purchased by the government with the help of revenues from ticket sales to the Alhambra. The deed of purchase was signed on October 24 of that year, and the many families residing in the building were subsequently evicted. Torres Balbas was charged with restoring and repairing the building, a process which took place in two phases from 1929 to 1931. This restoration also removed many modern or more recent additions to the building, as well as replacing the roofs and floors. In 1992 the building was again restored by the architect Rafael Soler Márquez. The facade underwent another process of cleaning and consolidation by the company ''Siglos Conservación y Restauración, s.l.'', under the direction of Lola Blanca López and Lourdes Blanca López, which was completed in 2006.

Architecture

The building's original medieval interior has not been preserved intact, but its general layout has remained the same. It features a simple floor plan with a nearly square central courtyard (measuring 16.8 by 15.6 meters) surrounded by a three-story gallery, similar to funduqs in Morocco such as those of Fez. A stone basin and former fountain stands at the center of the courtyard. Its most notable feature is the monumental projecting entrance gateway, with the doors situated within a large ''

iwan An iwan (, , also as ''ivan'' or ''ivān''/''īvān'', , ) is a rectangular hall or space, usually vaulted, walled on three sides, with one end entirely open. The formal gateway to the iwan is called , a Persian term for a portal projecting ...

'' (a vaulted space open to one side, originating in ancient Sassanian architecture). The building's architectural form can thus be traced to Middle Eastern architectural models like those of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and further east, where similar monumental entrances were more common. A similar form is also found in the Gate of Justice (''Puerta de la Justicia'') at the

Alhambra The Alhambra (, ; ) is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Spain. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the historic Muslim world, Islamic world. Additionally, the ...

. The ornamentation of the facade, however, is more strictly Nasrid or

Moorish The term Moor is an exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a single, distinct or self-defi ...

. The ''

alfiz The alfiz (, from Andalusi Arabic ''alḥíz'', from Standard Arabic ''alḥáyyiz'', meaning 'the container';Al ...

'' (square frame) has featuring multilobed and interlacing arch motifs around the archway and carved arabesques filling the spandrels, as well as ''mocárabes'' (

muqarnas Muqarnas (), also known in Iberian architecture as Mocárabe (from ), is a form of three-dimensional decoration in Islamic architecture in which rows or tiers of niche-like elements are projected over others below. It is an archetypal form of I ...

) sculpting in the vault of the iwan above the doorway. Above the alfiz frame is a horizontal band with an

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Kufic The Kufic script () is a style of Arabic script, that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts ...

inscription Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

of ''Surah'' 112 of the

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

, and above this is a double-arched window. On either side of the window are panels of decorative plaster carved with ''

sebka ''Sebka'' () refers to a type of decorative motif used in western Islamic ("Moorish") architecture and Mudéjar architecture. History and description Various types of interlacing rhombus-like motifs are heavily featured on the surfaces of mi ...

'' and

arabesque The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foliate ...

patterns. The projecting entrance is topped by a typical wooden

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural sty ...

supported by

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

s, as was typical of Andalusi and

Moroccan architecture Moroccan architecture reflects Morocco's diverse geography and long history, marked by successive waves of settlers through both migration and military conquest. This architectural heritage includes ancient Roman sites, historic Islamic architec ...

. File:Corral del carbon DSCF9879.jpg, The decoration above the archway of the entrance, including the

inscription File:Corral del Carbon de Granada 01.jpg, The decoration around the archway of the entrance ''

'' File:Corral del Carbón. Techo entrada.jpg, The

vaulting above the entrance File:Entrada Corral del carbón , María Dolores Pantoja Reyes.jpg, Remains of decoration in the vestibule of the building File:Corral del Carbón-Granada (2).jpg, The central courtyard File:Pila del Corral del Carbón (Granada).jpg, The water basin and fountain at the center of the courtyard

Current use

Today the building is a tourist attraction and historic site in the city. It also houses the offices of the City of Granada Orchestra, and the International Festival of Music and Dance of Granada, and is occasionally used for various cultural performances. There is also an office in the building where visitors can purchase official tickets issued by the municipal Tourist Office to the various Alhambra locations at a reduced price.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corral del Carbon Buildings and structures in Granada Buildings and structures completed in the 14th century Corral de comedias Alhóndigas Nasrid architecture Caravanserais