Granada Cathedral: Why you should visit (and how to see it for Free) Mapping Spain

Granada Cathedral: Why you should visit (and how to see it for free).

One of the first orders of business following the reconquest of Granada by the Christian forces in 1492 was building a Cathedral. As in almost all cases involving the Spanish, the decision made was to raze the Great Mosque and to build the new Cathedral where it had stood.

Construction of the Cathedral was started in 1523. It took 181 years to build and was finally completed in 1704. The Cathedral is part of a complex of buildings that includes the Royal Chapel, the burial place of the Catholic Monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand.

You´ll notice a few oddities looking at the Cathedral. The first is that it only has one tower. And the one tower that was built had to be lowered by 30 meters. Why? The first architect (Enrique Egas) was a master of Gothic architecture and constructed the foundations with a Gothic Cathedral in mind. But Gothic was going out of style and after 5 years and he was replaced by Diego de Siloé. Siloé was Italian-trained and was a proponent a Renaissance style of architecture. He changed the plans for the cathedral but in doing so faced a challenge: building a huge Renaissance Cathedral on Gothic foundations. The result was lowering the tower because the foundations just wouldn´t be able to support a taller tower. As for the 2^nd tower: plans for its building were cancelled because of economic problems. They just couldn´t afford to built it*.

*Which was the same fate as the Malaga Cathedral which was built at the same time (1528 – 1782). The Cathedral in Malaga is often referred to as “La Manquita”, loosely interpreted as “one armed woman”, because of its one tower.

Why you should visit Granada Cathedral

Despite the issues in construction, Granada Cathedral is spectacular. Walking down the main nave you see the Main Chapel in front of you which, with all its colour and light, is a sharp contrast to the white columns and ceiling of the Cathedral. Here you´ll see paintings of saints and the apostles rising along a series of arched columns. Along the top, below a colourful blue dome, are a series of stained glass windows. Conceived by Teodoro Pascual, it is considered the finest collection of stained glass in the 16^th century.

The side naves of the cathedral have chapels with some extraordinary art, one of the most impressive being the chapel of Nuestra Senora de la Antigua (Our lady of ¨El Antigua¨). Another of my favorites was the Chapel of Virgen de las Angustias (Our Lady of Sorrows). But, really, everywhere you look you´ll see beauty.

Note. Unlike the Royal Chapel, you can take photos in Granada Cathedral. Signs say ¨no photos¨, but it´s not enforced and everyone takes them.

Seeing Granada Cathedral for Free

I´ve mentioned it previously: you can see many of Granada´s highlights for free, it just needs a bit of pre-planning.

Just go to this website. There are 6 attractions listed there (the Cathedral, the Royal Chapel, Cartuja Monastery, the Abbey of Sacromonte, the Monastery of San Jerónimo, and the Church of Saint Nicolas). We were able to reserve to see 5 of the 6 attractions for free, the only one that never seemed to have any available dates was the Church of Saint Nicolas. Try to plan ahead at least 3 weeks in advance.

Choose the attraction(s) you want to see, check the available dates, fill out your information. Then reserve (Note: sometimes it doesn´t work, the site doesn´t give you available dates. Come back and try again another time).

The Official website of the Cathedral

Opening times: Monday – Saturday, 10 AM – 6:15 PM. Sunday 3 PM – 6:15 PM