CATHOLIC GRANADA 



ALMOST the first act performed by a Spanish king 

 on his entry into a conquered Mohammedan city 

 was to convert the chief mosque (aljama) into a 

 Christian church. This was also done at Granada, 

 but the chapel of the Alhambra remained for some 

 time the cathedral of the new See. The mosque 

 in the city, afterwards elevated to that rank, 

 is described by the Abbe Bertaut of Rouen 

 (quoted by Valladar), writing in 1669, as " square, 

 or rather longer than wide, without vaults, and 

 the roof covered with tiles, which for the most 

 part were not even joined. The whole was sup- 

 ported by a number of small stone columns, har- 

 moniously arranged." Jorquera says the mosque 

 was composed of five low naves. Whether or 

 not it was originally a Visigothic church, as some 

 writers pretend, the temple probably dated 

 from the earliest centuries of the Muslim occupa- 

 tion, and the tower which contained the mihrab 

 was long famous as the Torre Turpiana. 



The building, after serving the purposes of the 

 Catholic rite for two centuries, disappeared 

 between 1705 and 1759 to make room for the 



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