It was built during the Nasrid reign before 1336, and his original name was Al-Funduq al-Gidida or New Alhóndiga. Located south of the Muslim city, next to the silk market or Alcaicería, to the souk of the Medina and to the Main Mosque, served as inn for merchants in transit, warehouse and wholesale market. A small bridge was called al-qantara al-yadída until 1501, and later puente del carbón or puente del Álamo or puente de los Curtidores, located on the Darro River communicated the Alhóndiga with the souk. In general, as described Leopoldo Torres Balbás, this building responds to an Oriental model, but the decor and the details are distinctly Grenadian. Its ancestry can be traced from the Greek agoras, through the later Roman horreum until Islamic times. The monumental cover comes from the eastern iwan, whose origins have been much discussed, and is used in Sassanian palaces. Transmission to the West would be through Egypt, where the entrance portico opened by a large arch, vaulted with mocárabes, with the building's lintelled entrance door below, and a twin window above, is much used. Examples include the Mosque of al-Zahir Baybars I in Cairo and the Gate of Justice in Alhambra in Granada. In 1494 the Catholic Monarchs granted it to Sancho de Arana. At his death it came to auction, being used as hosting of coal merchants, later as corral de comedias and then as a tenement house. It was declared a National Historic-Artistic Monument in 1918, but was threatened with demolition until it was acquired by the state in 1933, which commissioned its restoration to Leopoldo Torres Balbás. In 1992 was again restored by the architect Rafael Soler Márquez, although remained some flaws that were not corrected until another restoration. The facade was operated with treatments of cleaning and consolidation by the company Siglos Conservación y Restauración, s.l., under the direction of the restorers Lola Blanca López and Lourdes Blanca López. Intervention completed in November 2006.
Description
The facade, richly decorated with plaster, is dominated by a large tumid arc provided with alfiz. On its horizontal molding there a Kufic epigraphic decoration. A shaft on it, stands a geminare vain. It is topped by a large overhanging eaves supported by wooden corbels in the Nasrid tradition. After the hall, covered with a vault of mocárabes that retains some other polychromatic, it enter to the courtyard. This, of quadrangular plant, is functional without decorative excesses. In its center is a stone basin provided with two pipe stands. The structure of the three floors provided of galleries that open to the courtyard is formed by stone pillars and beams and footings of wood. Dickies factory is brick. The interior of the halls is very transformed to house shops and offices.
