Cathedral & Capilla Real, Granada

The Granada Cathedral is entered by the doorway on the Gran Via de Colón, which also leads to the Capilla Real. The interior was not completed until after 1703. With double aisles and a transept, it is richly furnished with sculpture and pictures, mostly by Alonso Cano and Juan de Sevilla. On the entrance arch pillars are statues of the Catholic Monarchs by Pedro de Mena and, above them, heads of Adam and Eve by Alonso Cano. The bronze statues of Apostles date from 1614. In the choir are two large Baroque organs. The cathedral treasury, the finest items in which are a large silver monstrance and a number of Flemish tapestries, is now housed in the former chapterhouse in the northwest corner. From the south aisle a Gothic doorway (usually closed) gives access to the Capilla Real.

On the southeast side of the cathedral in Granada is the Sagrario, a Baroque structure built between 1705 and 1759 on the site of the town's principal mosque.

Between the Capilla Real and the Sagrario in Granada is the Lonja (the old Stock Exchange), with a beautiful loggia (1518-22).

Directly next to the entrance of the cathedral in Granada is the Madraza, a Baroque building but originally constructed by Jusuf I, in 1349 as a Moorish university.

In the south aisle of the Granada Cathedral is the entrance to the Capilla Real, the Late Gothic burial chapel of the Catholic Monarchs, built on to the cathedral in 1506-21. An elaborately wrought grille by Bartolomé de Jaén encloses the richly decorated royal tombs: to the right Ferdinand (d. 1516) and Isabella (d. 1504), in a tomb of Carrara marble (1522) by the Florentine sculptor Domenico Fancelli; to the left Philip the Handsome (d. 1506) and Joan the Mad (d. 1555), by Bartolomé Ordóñez. Beyond the royal tombs is a large and beautifully carved retablo by Felipe Vigarny, with statues of the Catholic Monarchs by Diego de Siloé. In the transepts are finely carved and richly decorated relicarios (side altars) by Alonso de Mena (1623); also in the north transept is the famous Triptych of the Passion by Dierik Bouts. Steps lead down to the Crypt, with simple lead sarcophagi containing the remains of other kings and princes.