GRANADA. A city of Spain, capital of the former Moorish kingdom, and of the modern Province of Granada, about 225 miles south of Madrid; on the River Jenil, near the centre of the province (Map: Spain, D 4). It is situated about 2200 feet above the sea, at the base and on the slope of two spurs of the Sierra Nevada. It comprises several parts, the little River Darro forming a natural division between the suburbs of-Albaicin and San Lorenzo and the greater part of the modern city on the north, and the Alham bra and the ancient suburbs of Churra and Ante quernela, on the south. The Albaicin, once the residential quarter of the Moslem nobility, is now in ruins, inhabited principally by gypsies. Granada enjoys a delightful climate under a clear blue sky, and rises picturesquely among the terraced hills covered with luxuriant vegeta tion and surmounted by the towers of the Alham bra. Though a 'living ruin,' it is still a city of remarkable beauty and distinction, retaining in a large measure its Moorish character. On the north are remains of the walls that sur rounded the city of old, the last towers hav ing been destroyed by the French in 1812, though some of the gates are still in exist ence. The streets, with the exception of those in the modern suburbs, are crooked and narrow, and the houses of Oriental architecture. Many old gardens with Moorish fountains have been preserved and there are several fine plazas. The Plaza del Triunfo, extending from the Puerto de Elvira to the Plaza de Toros, is the largest in the city, and has a central monument, gardens, and a magnificent promenade; the Plaza de Bi barrambla, or la Constitucion, was the scene of many factional conflicts in the time of the Moors, and of various Moslem and Christian festivals, tournaments, etc.; the Plaza Nueva, laid out on a Roman bridge over the Darro, is the lower terminus of a street leading to the Alhambra. The beautifully shaded Alameda is continued along the Jenil by the attractive Paseo del Salon and Paseo de la Bomba, while on the opposite bank is the Paseo del Violon.
Preeminent among the architectural features of Granada is the Alhambra (q.v.). The Gen eralife, the summer palace of the Moorish princes, is next in interest among the ruined splendors of the Moslem power. Other examples of the Moor ish style are still extant, and a number of the Christian churches of to-day are constructed on Moorish foundations, some of them incorporating parts of the mosques which they supplanted. Be sides the cathedral, one of the finest Renaissance structures in Spain, there are many notable churches, that of San Jeronimo having an his torical interest, since it contains the tomb of Gon salvo de Cordova, whose remains, however, were desecrated by a mob and thrown to the winds.
The cathedral, by Diego de Siloe, dating from 1529, though not completed until a century later, is richly decorated with marbles, and has nu merous statues and paintings by Spanish artists, and the tombs, among others, of Ferdinand and Isabella in the Royal Chapel, which was founded by them. Granada is an archiepiscopal see. It is the seat of a university, founded in 1531, with five faculties and three hundred students, occupy ing the old monastery of the Compailia de Jesus (Jesuits) ),and has a theological seminary and sev eral other colleges, a normal school, and a school of fine arts. There are the provincial and the university library with 40,000 volumes and valu able manuscripts, a botanic-al garden, the museum of the Alhambra, and archaeological and art mu seums. The charitable institutions include several hospitals and houses of refuge, an insane asylum, a maternity hospital, an asylum for the poor, etc. The imposing fortress (Torres Bermejas), built as a protection against the rebel Mozarabs, or Christian partisans of the Moors, has been con verted into a prison. Industrially, Granada . is comparatively unimportant ; it has, however, manufactures of textiles, paper, leather, liquors, hats, soap, flour, starch, macaroni, chocolate, etc. There is considerable commerce with the adjacent provinces, the trade being confined large ly to the agricultural products of the Vega of Granada, celebrated in history as the scene of contest between the Moorish and Christian chiv alry, but known also for its fertility. Popula tion, in 1900, 75,570.
Granada arose near the site of the ancient 11 liberis, the Eliberi of the Iberians. It is men tioned in the accounts of the early Arabian au thors, and probably existed in the seventh century A.D. Occupied by the Saracens in the eighth cen tury, it became in the thirteenth century the capital of the extensive Kingdom of Granada, and developed under the Moorish rule into a renowned centre of wealth, learning, and power, at its zenith having, it is said, between 400,000 and 500,000. The last stronghold of the Moorish pow er, it was invested by the armies of Ferdinand and Isabella, and after a twelve months' siege, famous for heroic exploits on both sides, it sur rendered at the close of 1491, and in January, 1492, the Christian sovereigns made their entry into the city. There were numerous tumults and revolts occasioned by the events leading up to the final expulsion of the Moors in 1609; meanwhile Granada was slowly declining. The city was taken by the French in 1810 and in 1823, and in most of the revolutionary movements of the nine teenth century it played a part, being known as a liberal stronghold. Earthquakes caused some damage in 1884-85, and a fire in 1890 raged over a part of the Alhambra.