Left bank of the Genil beside the small domed oratory later called the Hermitage of San Sebastián, Nasrid Kingdom of Granada (Andalusia)

Banks of the Genil, Granada

In the early morning of 2 January 1492, beside a small domed oratory on the banks of the Genil, Boabdil, the last Nasrid sultan, surrenders the keys of Granada to King Ferdinand, who has them received by the Count of Tendilla and Gutierre de Cárdenas. Almost eight centuries of Muslim rule in the peninsula end as the Christian banner rises over the Alhambra.

Panoramic scene depicting Banks of the Genil, Granada (1492), Left bank of the Genil beside the small domed oratory later called the Hermitage of San Sebastián, Granada.
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Panoramic scene depicting Banks of the Genil, Granada (1492), Left bank of the Genil beside the small domed oratory later called the Hermitage of San Sebastián, Granada.
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Year
1492
Where
Nasrid Kingdom of Granada (Andalusia) · ES
Era
Renaissance
Coordinates
37.166, -3.600

The moment

The keys changed hands at a riverside oratory

Early on Monday 2 January 1492, on the left bank of the Genil just south of the walls of Granada, Boabdil, the last Nasrid sultan, handed over the keys of his city. King Ferdinand had them received by the Count of Tendilla and Gutierre de Cárdenas.

The best-known account places the meeting beside a small Muslim oratory, a morabito built under the Almohads in 1218. It is a square of lime-mortar walls 8.4 metres a side under a brick dome, with a pointed horseshoe arch framed in brick, and it stood next to the walled garden palace of the Alcázar Genil.

In 1615 the oratory was rebuilt as a Christian hermitage and dedicated to Saints Fabian and Sebastian. As the Ermita de San Sebastián it still stands, a plaque recalls the handover, and it has been a national monument since 1931.

The surrender was signed five weeks earlier

The ceremony only sealed what had been agreed. On 25 November 1491, at Santa Fe, the camp-town the Catholic Monarchs had raised on the plain during the siege, Boabdil signed the Capitulations of Granada: 77 articles that guaranteed Granada's Muslims their faith, their property and their own law.

The accounts of the morning differ. They disagree on the hour, on whether Queen Isabella was at the river, and on the exact spot, which some place in the garden of the Alcázar Genil. All agree that the Christian banner was raised over the Alhambra.

The promises did not hold for long. Forced conversions set off the revolt of the Alpujarras in 1499, and in 1502 the Muslims of Castile were ordered to convert or leave. Boabdil, given a lordship in the Alpujarras, crossed to Fez in 1493 and died in exile.

Almost eight centuries ended in one morning

Spanish history books close the Reconquista on this day. Muslim rule in the peninsula had begun in 711, and Granada was its last state.

The year that followed is Spain's annus mirabilis. In the Alhambra the monarchs signed the decree expelling Spain's Jews, and at Santa Fe they agreed the contract that sent Columbus west. The pomegranate at the foot of Spain's coat of arms, the granada of the city's name, was added to the royal arms after the conquest.

A holiday that divides the city

Granada still marks 2 January as the Día de la Toma, the Day of the Taking. Its central rite is the tremolación del pendón, the waving of the royal banner from the balcony of the city hall in the Plaza del Carmen.

The day is contested. Supporters, mostly on the right and the far right, defend it as a civic tradition. Left-wing and Andalusist groups, and parts of the city's Muslim community, see a celebration of conquest and of the expulsions that followed, and some have asked the mayor to use the balcony instead for a call to coexistence.

Most years both sides gather in the same square, a few metres apart.

Sources

Further reading

Tagged

  • spain
  • granada
  • andalusia
  • reconquista
  • nasrid
  • catholic-monarchs
  • boabdil
  • 1492

Published

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