San Nicolás Viewpoint

The ensemble formed by the church of San Nicolas, the cistern and the small square with its imposing viewpoint define the relationship of beauty and harmony of the Albaycin district, the Alhambra, the Darro valley, the old city and the horizon of the Vega.

The church that gives its name to the surroundings consists of a single nave divided by arches of new construction since the original was destroyed by arson in 1932. The original layout was composed in 1535 by Rodrigo Hernández.

The cistern, on the other hand, is a Christian construction built over a previous Muslim one. The cistern is rectangular and is covered by a semicircular vault.

In front of the entrance to the church, which has suffered multiple abandonments in recent times to be recovered, opens the most famous viewpoint of the neighborhood declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

The San Nicolás viewpoint was an element of inspiration for Federico. José Mora Guarnido blames Lorca’s lack of interest in studies on the excursions he undertook in the Albaicín and the long stops to contemplate the Alhambra.

The three heritage elements that define the place are linked to García Lorca, in particular to his student years, and to his early compositions. José Mora Guarnido blames Federico’s lack of interest in studies on the excursions he undertook through the Albaycín and the long stops in San Nicolás. “Our spirit was reluctant to leave (…) and we would escape to the Alhambra, on moonlit nights we would go to the Albaycín to contemplate it from the small square of San Nicolás and we would stay until dawn, which was more pleasant to read Rubén Darío or Lope”. From 1920, once Falla took up residence in a carmen of the Alhambra, hikers included the composer in their Albaicín escapades.

The visual relationship between the Albaicín and the Alhambra, necessary for mutual understanding, vertebrates one of the first prose by García Lorca prior to the publication of his first book. The Fantasía Simbólica, published in 1917 in the bulletin of the Centro Artístico, confronts both hills: “From the cubes of the Alhambra one sees the Albaycín with the courtyards, with ancient galleries through which nuns pass (…). It is something mysterious that attracts and fascinates the view of the Albaicin from the fortress and palace of midnight. And the panorama, being so splendid and strange and having those powerful voices of romanticism, is not what fascinates. What fascinates is the sound. It could be said that all things sound… That light sounds, that color sounds, that shapes sound (…). Every hour of the day has a different sound. They are symphonies of sweet sounds what you hear”.

Just look out over the viewpoint and contemplate the Alhambra, or glimpse the Albaycín from the Plaza de los Aljibes, to experience that multiple sensation described by Lorca.

In that same text, Lorca devotes a chapter entitled Nightmarish Camphor, to describe the neighborhood, primitive settlement of Granada.

Many years later, during his visit to Argentina, Lorca revived that vision of youthful Granada with a lecture entitled How a City Sings from November to November. It is a sensual tour of the city through popular songs. He pronounced it in Buenos Aires on October 26, 1933. “We are approaching with our ears and our sense of smell and the first sensation we have is a smell of sedge, mint, a vegetable world softly crushed by the feet of mules and horses and oxen that come and go in all directions through the vega. Then the rhythm of the water. But not a crazy water that goes where it wants. Water with rhythm and not with rumor, measured water, just, following a geometric and rhythmic channel in a work of irrigation. Water that waters and sings down here and water that suffers and moans full of tiny white violins there in the Generalife“.