EDIFICIO DEL POLINARIO

The Council of the Alhamabra will oversee the refurbishment and restoration activities.

There used to be a restaurant called “El Polinario” in one of the buildings opposite what is today the church of Santa María de la Alhambra, in the Calle Real. The remains of the mosque built by the Nasrid King Muhammad III during his short reign were discovered there at the beginning of the 20th century. Slightly to the east, in one of his last interventions in the Alhambra, Torres Balbás reconstructed the Mosque bath, which was quite small. Opposite the Mosque and the bath on the other side of the Calle Real are a series of buildings which were built fairly recently and today make up the southern facade of the Calle Real of the Alhambra. Until recently one of these buildings was occupied by the “El Polinario” restaurant.

The excavation work in this building has produced interesting results which provide new interpretations regarding the southern slopes of the Alhambra.

The architectural work was carried out in two phases. In the first they analysed the spatial layout, making two surveys, the first in the courtyard and the second in the room on the north-eastern side of the building (which once housed the cafe). Stratigraphic analysis was also carried out on the western perimeter wall.

This work has proved very useful in giving us an overview of this part of the Alhambra, providing essential information to complete our picture of the urban processes that took place during the Middle Ages.