GRANADA

Granada has been selected by Roberto Amati in relation to the real history of european integration, then enlisted in the People, Dates, Places and Events category, accompanied by own fact SHEET useful to the comprehension, completed of historical MAPS AND IMAGES or with a direct linking to the related Blog contents dedicated to the entire history of european integration and the future of Europe.

Granada is one of the most important place in the history of european integration and will probably have influence on the future of United europe, representing the most important example of islamic culture in Europe (as well as Palermo) as capital of the Califfade of Al-Andalus (711-1492 A.D.) and also an historic city and main of Spain aeternitas since today.

Granada was settled since ancient times by Iberians, Romans, and Westgoths. It is not clear who founded the current site that became a major city of Al-Andalus in the XI century A.d. during the Zirid Taifa of Granada, while time after it became the capital of the Emirate of Granada under Nasrid, the last Muslim-ruled state in the Iberian Peninsula before being conquered in 1492 by the Catholic Monarchs and progressively transformed into a Christian city over the course of the XVI century A.D. by the emperor Charle V first king of Spain. The Granada's historical name in the Arabic language was Ġarnāṭa (غرناطة), possibly meant "hill of strangers", but in 44 B.C. was established a Roman colony and with reform of Augustus became a Roman municipium that at the end of VII century A.D. had been transormed in a fortress by Moors on the south side of the Darro River or on the site of the current Albaicín neighbourhood. There has always been a Jewish community at the epoch of the Caliphate of Córdoba, who remained included after 1009 A.D. when the city became capital of the independent kingdom of Taifa of Granada. Arab sources such as al-Idrisi consider him to be the founder of the city of Granada. The Zirids built their palace known as the "Old Citadel" (al-Qaṣaba al-Qadīma) on the hill now occupied by the Albaicín neighborhood, within the Berber empires of Almoravids and Almohads, when the city's became its Great Mosque (built on the site of the present-day Granada Cathedral) and the commercial district known as "the Alcaicería (qaysariyya).

When Ibn Al-Ahmar, the first Nasrid emir, established himself in the city moved the royal palace to the Sabika hill, beginning construction on what became the present Alhambra: it acted as a self-contained palace-city, with its own mosque, hammams, fortress, residential quarters for workers and servants. The most celebrated palaces that survive today, such as the Mexuar, the Partal Palace, the Comares Palace and the Palace of the Lions, generally date from the reigns of Yusuf I and his son Muhammad V in XIV century A.D.: decoration is focused on the inside of the building and was executed primarily with tile mosaics on lower walls and carved stucco on the upper walls; geometric patterns, vegetal motifs, and Arabic calligraphy were the main types of decorative motifs; the "stalactite"-like sculpting, known as muqarnas, was used for three-dimensional features like vaulted ceilings. In 1526 A.D., Charles V went to live in the Alhambra with his wife and commissioned a new Renaissance-style palace, now known as the Palace of Charles V, in direct juxtaposition with the Nasrid palaces, but it was left uncompleted. Other notable Renaissance additions from his reign include the Emperor's Chambers and the Peinador de la Reina (Queen's Robing Room), which are connected to the former Nasrid Palaces. The Generalife is a Nasrid-era country estate or summer palace located just east of the Alhambra, on a sloping site above it first built in the late XIII century A.D.. The Alhambra is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the most visited tourist sites in Spain as UNESCO Wordl Heritage Site since 1984 A.D..

The vast majority of the Granada's remaining mosques were subsequently converted into churches during and after the mass conversions of 1500 A.D. after the conquer of the city by christians. In 1531 A.D., Charles V founded the University of Granada and lived there for long period with the wife Isabella de Aviz until she died, then buried her in the Royal Chapel aside his mother Johan queen of Castile and Aragon and father Philippe Duke of Burgundy and the "Catholic Monarchs" Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. That period also saw the creation of a number of other new institutions such as the Cathedral Cabildo (built over the Nasrid Great Mosque of Granada), the Captaincy–General and the Royal Chancellery. Other important monument to see in the city are: Monasterio de San Jerónimo; San Juan de Dios Hospital; Palacio de la Madraza; Archaeological Museum of Granada; Museo de Bellas Artes de Granada (Museum of Fine Arts); El Bañuelo (XI century A.D. bathhouse); Corral del Carbón (XIV century A.d. caravanserai, later converted to theatre); Cuarto Real de Santo Domingo; Palacio de los Olvidados (house and museum displaying torture instruments of the Spanish Inquisition); Church of San Salvador.

Granada had been occupied by Napoleon's army during the Peninsular War, when the French troops used the Alhambra as a fortified position and caused significant damage to the monument. Upon evacuating the city, they attempted to dynamite the whole complex, successfully blowing up eight towers before the remaining fuses were disabled by Spanish soldiers, thus saving what remains today. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936 A.D., Granada was one of the cities that joined the Nationalist uprising but lost its main position in favour of Valencia. Nowadays, Granada is the capital of the homonimous province, in the autonomous community of Andalusia: the city is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of four rivers (the Darro, the Genil, the Monachil and the Beiro) and sits on the Vega de Granada, one of the depressions or plains located within the Baetic mountain ranges, continued to the west by those of Archidona and Antequera and to the East by those of Guadix, Baza and Huéscar. The fertile soil of the Vega, apt for agriculture, is irrigated by the water streams originated in Sierra Nevada, as well as minor secondary ranges, all drained by the catchment basin of the Genil River. The pomegranate is the typical cultivation and the heraldic device of Granada. In 1898 A.D. was born the universal known poet Federico Garcia Lorca.

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