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| San Jeronimo Monastery with its patio of orange trees. |
monasterio de san jerónimo
The monastery was originally founded in Santa Fé by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella during the reconquest of Granada. Following this success it was relocated to the city centre.
Construction of this Renaissance Roman Catholic monastery and church began in 1504 and 1519 respectively.
The works were directed by Diego de Siloé and were finished in 1547.
The monastery has two cloisters, each built around a garden. The main courtyard of the Monastery of San Jerónimo, has a Doric doorway, decorated with thirty-six semicircular arches with shields,. These are emblems and initials of the founding fathers and the coat of arms of the first Archbishop of Granada and monk, Jerome Hernando de Talavera.
The second cloister, now the enclosure of the monastery's community of monks, was the residence of the Empress Isabella of Portugal for her wedding to Charles I of Spain (Holy Roman Emperor Charles V).
The area has arches on very short columns, with a Gothic stone sill.
The adjacent Church was started in 1519 under the leadership of Jacopo Torni however on his death in 1526, it reverted to Diego de Siloé. The main chapel was completed in 1522. The bodies of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, known as "El Gran Capitán", and his wife Doña Maria de Manrique were moved here from the Casa Grande of the Convent of Saint Francis.
The Hieronymites monks were expelled Monastery which was sacked and assigned as barracks by the French army during the Peninsular War, and sadly lost many of its beautiful ornaments were distroyed. The French army demolished the church tower and used the stone to build the Puente Verde bridge over River Genil, linking the Paseo de la Bomba to the Avenida de Cervantes.
The State undertook a restoration of the building in 1916-1920. In the 1980s the tower re-constructed.
The gateway on Calle Rector López Argueta is original. It had disappeared in the 19th century and was re-erected in the 1960s after being found abandoned in a courtyard of a privately owned country house, far away in the e Vega de Granada. The sculpture of the Virgin of Sorrows on the gate is not original.
Hours
March to August 10:00 to 13:30 and 16:00 to 19:30 hrs.
September to February 10:00 to 13:30 and 15:00 to 18:30 hrs.
Admission
Adults: 4€
Under 10yrs: Free
Contact
Monasterio de San Jerónimo,
Calle Rector López Argüeta 9,
Granada.
Tel: 958 279 337
