Mezquita de Granada

Mezquita Mayor de Granada (the Great Mosque of Granada) is the principal mosque of the Spanish city of Granada and the first new purpose-built mosque to open in the city since the fall of the Emirate of Granada to the Catholic Monarchs in 1492 ended over seven centuries of Muslim rule in Al-Andalus. The mosque was inaugurated in 2003 after twenty-two years of planning and construction, in the historic Albaicín quarter of the old Moorish city directly opposite the Alhambra palace complex on the facing hill. The location was chosen specifically for its symbolic resonance — the Albaicín was the principal residential quarter of the Muslim population of Nasrid Granada and was the last neighbourhood to retain a substantial Muslim community after the conquest before the forced conversions, expulsions and Inquisition that followed. The mosque was designed in a contemporary Maghrebi-Andalusi architectural style with a small minaret, a courtyard with a fountain, a prayer hall accommodating approximately five hundred worshippers and a beautiful walled garden offering one of the most spectacular views of the Alhambra in Granada. The mosque serves the modern Muslim community of Granada — a mix of native Spanish converts, North African and Middle Eastern immigrants and international students — and is administered by the Spanish Muslim community organisation that initiated its construction.