The Royal Chapel of Granada (Spanish : Capilla Real de Granada) is an Isabelline style building in Granada, Spain. Constructed between 1505 and 1517, it was originally integrated in the complex of the neighbouring Granada Cathedral. It is the burial place of the Spanish monarchs, Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand, the Catholic Monarchs. Apart from these historical links, this building also contains a gallery of artworks and other items associated with Queen Isabella.
The Nasrid dynasty of Granada was the last Moorish dominion of Al-Andalus to fall in the Reconquista (Reconquest). This occurred in 1492 during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, with the conquest of the city being an important stage of their combined reign. On September 13, 1504, they declared that they wanted their remains to be taken to Granada, and to this effect a royal charter was issued at Medina del Campo, Castile-León, for the Royal Chapel to be built. The charter states:
First we ordain that in the Cathedral of the city of Granada it made an honest chapel in which are, when the will of Our Lord be, our bodies buried. This chapel will be called Of the Kings under the invocation of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist. [1]
The Royal Chapel was built between 1505 and 1517 in Isabelline Gothic style and dedicated to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, with the construction under the direction of Enrique Egas in Gothic style. Juan Gil de Hontañón, Juan de Badajoz the Elder and Lorenzo Vázquez de Segovia were also involved in the construction project. [2]
Construction occurred during the lifetime of King Ferdinand, and the Chapel flourished under his successor Emperor Charles V, with the church decorated, and the supporting institution being enhanced. [3] The Capilla Real was the mausoleum of the Spanish royal family until the founding of El Escorial by Philip II. [4]
The Royal Chapel became one of the top tourist attractions in Granada in the latter half of the twentieth century.[ citation needed ] Recently there has been a restoration with the collaboration of the Ministry of Culture of the Junta de Andalucía and the Foundation Caja Madrid, along with other public and private contributions.
The interior of the chapel follows the same model as the Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes in Toledo. It has four side chapels, creating the form of a Latin cross [5] and a nave with a Gothic ribbed vault. The choir has a centered arch down to its base, and a crypt.
The passage to the presbytery creates a luminous effect to symbolize the sun and the light of justice (in an Albertian, Neo-Platonic sense). There is a hierarchy of the transept dedicated to mausoleum, which is separated by a monumental decorated grille forged by Bartolomé Ordoñez.
In the center of the transept lie the tombs of Isabella and Ferdinand by Domenico Fancelli and Joanna and Philip (by Bartolomé Ordóñez). [4] The tombs are set high and mark their priority and are almost at the height of the altar (symbolizes the closeness of the kings to God).
In the Royal Chapel can be seen the graves of:
In another tomb, by Bartolomé Ordóñez, is represented:
In the crypt is also the sarcophagus of the infante Miguel da Paz, Prince of Portugal, grandson of the Catholic Monarchs, who died as a child.
The most important parts inside the temple are its main altar and reredos, the wrought-iron rood screen and the crypt with the five lead coffins containing the remains of kings and the little Infante, each recognizable by the initials of their names.
The chapel is still dedicated to Catholic worship, and at certain times it is closed to tourists.
One may also visit the Sacristy-Museum, with the legacy of the Catholic Monarchs. Highlights of its gallery of paintings are works of the Flemish, Italian and Spanish schools, with paintings by authors like Juan de Flandes and Hans Memling as well as a rare example by Sandro Botticelli ( Agony in the Garden ) and other 15th century painters like Rogier van der Weyden, Dirk Bouts, Perugino and Bartolomé Bermejo. Goldsmiths work on display includes the crown and the scepter of the Catholic Monarchs; tissues and books of the Queen.
In the angle between the Royal Chapel and the Sagrario is the Lonja, constructed in the year 1518 and dedicated to banking and commerce. It has recently been restored and can be visited, both for its architectural interest (the facade, the coffereds) and for the objects displayed inside (paintings, furniture).
From its foundation and for centuries, the Royal Chapel emplyed masters who were entrusted with composing music for liturgical functions, and direction of all matters relating to its interpretation. Between services these musicians had to attend to the education of the choirboys (known as infantillos or seises) and care of the archive.
Applicants for the post of maestro had to undergo competitive examinations testing their prowess at composition and musical knowledge. Success in the process could only be achieved by genuine artists. Among the files that make up the music catalog of this institution stand out for their number and their extraordinary chronological extension, those corresponding to the work of Antonio Cavallero, who was appointed to post in 1757, replacing Pedro Furió and officially it leaves to die around 1822, closing an interesting relationship of tenured masters. Other notable chapel masters of the Royal Chapel included:
Ferdinand IV of Castile called the Summoned, was King of Castile and León from 1295 until his death.
John II of Castile was King of Castile and León from 1406 to 1454. He succeeded his older sister, Maria of Castile, Queen of Aragon, as Prince of Asturias in 1405.
The Catholic Monarchs were Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, whose marriage and joint rule marked the de facto unification of Spain. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being both descended from John I of Castile; to remove the obstacle that this consanguinity would otherwise have posed to their marriage under canon law, they were given a papal dispensation by Sixtus IV. They married on October 19, 1469, in the city of Valladolid; Isabella was 18 years old and Ferdinand a year younger. It is generally accepted by most scholars that the unification of Spain can essentially be traced back to the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella. Their reign was called by W.H. Prescott "the most glorious epoch in the annals of Spain".
The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See, better known as Seville Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It was registered in 1987 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, along with the adjoining Alcázar palace complex and the General Archive of the Indies. It is one of the largest churches in the world as well as the largest Gothic church.
Elizabeth of Aragon, more commonly known as Elizabeth of Portugal, was queen consort of Portugal who is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.
Miguel da Paz, Hereditary Prince of Portugal and Prince of Asturias was a Portuguese royal prince, son of King Manuel I of Portugal and his first wife, Isabella of Aragon, Princess of Asturias (1470–1498).
The House of Trastámara was a royal dynasty which first ruled in the Crown of Castile and then expanded to the Crown of Aragon from the Late Middle Ages to the early modern period.
The Crown of Castile was a medieval polity in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and, some decades later, the parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accession of the then Castilian king, Ferdinand III, to the vacant Leonese throne. It continued to exist as a separate entity after the personal union in 1469 of the crowns of Castile and Aragon with the marriage of the Catholic Monarchs up to the promulgation of the Nueva Planta decrees by Philip V in 1715.
The Isabelline style, also called the Isabelline Gothic, or Castilian late Gothic, was the dominant architectural style of the Crown of Castile during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon in the late-15th century to early-16th century. The Frenchman Émile Bertaux named the style after Queen Isabella.
María Alfonso Téllez de Meneses, known as María de Molina, was queen consort of Castile and León from 1284 to 1295 by marriage to Sancho IV of Castile, and served as regent for her minor son Ferdinand IV and later her grandson Alfonso XI of Castile (1312-1321).
Ferdinand II was King of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. As the husband of Queen Isabella I of Castile, he was also King of Castile from 1475 to 1504. He reigned jointly with Isabella over a dynastically unified Spain; together they are known as the Catholic Monarchs. Ferdinand is considered the de facto first king of Spain, and was described as such during his reign, even though, legally, Castile and Aragon remained two separate kingdoms until they were formally united by the Nueva Planta decrees issued between 1707 and 1716.
The Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes is an Isabelline style Franciscan monastery in Toledo, in Castile-La Mancha, Spain, built by the Catholic Monarchs (1477–1504).
Isabella I, also called Isabella the Catholic, was Queen of Castile and León from 1474 until her death in 1504. She was also Queen of Aragon from 1479 until her death as the wife of King Ferdinand II. Reigning together over a dynastically unified Spain, Isabella and Ferdinand are known as the Catholic Monarchs.
The Colegio de San Gregorio is an Isabelline style building located in the city of Valladolid, in Castile and León, Spain, it was formerly a college and now is housing the Museo Nacional de Escultura museum. This building is one of the best examples of the architectural style known as Isabelline, which is the characteristic architectural style of the Crown of Castile region during the Catholic Monarchs' reign.
Domenico Fancelli (1469–1519) was an Italian sculptor who worked primarily in Spain, where he was one of those who introduced Renaissance art. His most notable works are the tomb of Cardinal Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, in the Cathedral of Seville, and the tombs of the Catholic Monarchs in the Royal Chapel of Granada.
Isabella of Portugal was the empress consort of her husband Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, and Duke of Burgundy. She was Queen of Spain and Germany, and Lady of the Netherlands from 10 March 1526 until her death in 1539, and became Holy Roman Empress and Queen of Italy in February 1530. She was the regent of Spain because of her husband's constant travels through Europe, focusing on the kingdom's policies independent of the empire and managing the economy.
The coat of arms of Castile was the heraldic emblem of its monarchs. Historian Michel Pastoureau says that the original purpose of heraldic emblems and seals was to facilitate the exercise of power and the identification of the ruler, due to what they offered for achieving these aims. These symbols were associated with the kingdom, and eventually also represented the intangible nature of the national sentiment or sense of belonging to a territory.
37°10′33.55″N3°35′56.53″W / 37.1759861°N 3.5990361°W
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Rayo Muñoz, G. Castilian monarchy and dynastic memory: the financing of the Royal Chapel of Granada (1504–1526): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17546559.2021.1972327?journalCode=ribs20
