San Juan de los Reyes Mudejar church

Granada, Granada, Andalucía.

Dating of the building: 13th - 16th century.

Applicant: Department of Culture of Andalusia Regional Government.

Reason for the award :

For the impeccable methodological and technical approach in the restoration of a Mudejar church and the preservation of all its historical phases.

The architectural complex is an excellent example of the cultural and social hybridization between Islam and Christian Spain.

The Church of Juan de los Reyes is located on the southern slopes of the Albaicín quarter in Granada, in front of the Nasrid Palaces of the Alhambra. It was built at the beginning of the 16th century, preserving the 13th-century Almohad minaret of the al-Taìbin or Conversos mosque, on top of which the bell tower of the Mudejar church was constructed. However, the history of the construction of the building does not end in this period. The baroque transformations carried out during the 17th century, the neo-Gothic intervention at the end of the 19th century, and the restoration work carried out by Leopoldo Torres Balbás during the first decades of the 20th century resulted in the dynamic building that contains in its factories and walls significant material and cultural weight.

Before the restoration works, the building threatened ruin, so the first works were for consolidation. Later, the humidity problem was solved, the roof trusses restored, and the selective treatment of the exterior walls and façades, the interior conditioning and paving, and the incorporation of facilities and lighting carried out. Of particular note was the renovation and reinforcement of the Mudejar wooden coffered ceiling, the restoration of the minaret bricks, and the elimination of inappropriate elements that had been added to the building. In addition, an urban intervention was carried out in the Placeta de las Escuelas, located next to the main entrance of the church. The purpose of all these works was to maintain the balance between the different stages of the building, enhancing the most characteristic and integrating the rest without generating excessive contrasts.

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