The Madraza of Granada stands on Calle Oficios, directly opposite the entrance to the Royal Chapel, in the heart of the city's historic core. Founded in 1349 by the Nasrid sultan Yusuf I, it was the only major Islamic college, or madrasa, built in al-Andalus, and it functioned as the primary center of theological and juridical education in the Nasrid kingdom for the century and a half before Granada's fall in 1492. The building takes its name from the Arabic term for a place of learning derived from Islamic law.
The original Nasrid structure was substantially rebuilt in the early 18th century, when the University of Granada's predecessor institution added a Baroque facade and reorganized much of the interior. What survives from the 14th century is the prayer room, or oratory, which was hidden behind a false ceiling until restoration work in the early 20th century revealed it. The oratory is a room of striking refinement: its walls are covered in stucco work with Arabic calligraphic inscriptions, geometric patterns, and vegetal ornament in the Nasrid style familiar from the Alhambra, though executed on a smaller and more intimate scale. A wooden mihrab niche indicates the direction of Mecca.
After the Catholic Monarchs took Granada, Ferdinand II donated the building to the city council in 1500. The library, reportedly one of the finest in the western Mediterranean, was destroyed on the orders of Cardinal Cisneros, who had the books burned in the Bib-Rambla square. The building served various civic functions over the centuries before being transferred to the University of Granada in 1976, which now uses it for lectures, exhibitions, and events. The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Our Lady of Sorrows also maintains a presence here.
The ground floor is generally open to visitors free of charge during business hours, though upper floors and temporary exhibitions may require tickets. The oratory is the primary reason to visit. It is compact and easy to miss if you do not know it is there: ask staff at the entrance to point you toward it. The Madraza sits in the middle of Granada's densest cluster of Christian and Islamic monuments, making it a natural stop on any walk that takes in the cathedral, Royal Chapel, and Corral del Carbón nearby.
