Slide presentation used for the communication 'The Alcaicería of Granada (Spain) From a silk trade center to a post-touristic shopping-scape', presented in Lisbon (May 2013) during the International Conference ShoppingScapes´13, Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias. This communication shows some preliminary notes about the evolution of the Alcaicería of Granada, Spain, a case study of one of the precursors of themed modern shopping centers and malls.
Abstract: The Alcaicería of Granada is a contemporary post-touristic shopping-scape with deeps roots in history. In the Medieval Arab world, the term al-qaysāriyya described a commercial institution for the silk trade as well as an architectonic typology. In Al-Andalus, the typology was a cluster of shops located in the center of the main cities. After the Reconquest, these structures were maintained and alcaicerías were even built, as commercial spaces, in America and the Philippines. The decline of the silk trade provoked their disappearance, with the exception of Granada's. The chronicle of the Alcaicería of Granada begins with a "transaction document" (1460), continues with its reconstruction in Alhambresque style (1843) and its conversion into a theme market for handcrafts (1940), to its recent restoration (2002). Today, the mimetic atmosphere full of souvenirs, among just a few local crafts, is a commercial urban scenario that mixes reality and fiction for tourists.
Keywords: Alcaicería. Granada. Shopping Structures. Post-tourism. Silk Trade
The Alcaicería of Granada (Spain) From a silk trade center to a post-touristic shopping-scape
1. ShoppingScapes´13, Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias
Lisboa, May 2013
The Alcaicería of Granada (Spain)
From a silk trade center to a post-touristic shopping-scape
Juan Antonio Sánchez Muñoz
Architect, independent researcher / kauharquitectos@gmail.com
Editor (English text) & translation of quotes: Vincent Morales Garoffolo
2. “We have been everywhere. We have seen nothing”
Humbet Humbert in Lolita (Nabokov, 1955)
- Introduction: A postcard from Granada
- What is an Alcaicería? The origin
- Alcaicerías in Al-Andalus and Christian Spain: the architectural typology
- A chronicle of The Alcaicería of Granada
- The Alcaicería today: a post-touristic shopping scape
3. Alcaicería. Video by David Snakeskin, 20012 / courtesy of the artist http://vimeo.com/46514906
11. Most visited monuments in Spain: Alhambra, Prado, Sagrada Familia
Granada
Madrid
Barcelona
12. Medieval Arabs geographers and
travellers
- Abd al-Malik ben Habib (853)
-Ahmad ben Muhammad ben
Musa al Razi (885-955)
-Abd Allah (c. 1056)
- Abu Ubayd al-Bakri (1094)
- Abu Wahid Muhammad al-
Saqundi (1231)
-Ibn Idhari (s. XIII-XIV)
- Al-Nuwayri (1278-1332)
- Lizan al-Din ben al-Jatib (1313-
1374)
- Abd al-Rahman ben Jaldun
(1332-1404)
-Ahmad ben Muhammad al-
Maqqaru (1631)
…
Christian travellers
15th Century
-Jerónimo Münzer
-Señor de Montigny
-Antonio de Lalaing
-Jorge de Ehingen
-Andrea Navagiero
-Sobieski
-Diego de Cuelbis
-Villuga
…
16th and 17th Centuries
-France: Señor de Moroonys,
Bertaut and Martin
-England: William Lithgow,
Willoughby, Howell and Ellin
Veryard
-Germany: the Elector Palatine
Frederick II, Welsch
-Flanders: Anton Van den
Wyngaerde, Joris Hoefnagel
…
18th Century
-Spain: Perez Bayer, Ponz and
Conde de Maule
-Germany: Adam Ebert (Aulus
Apronius), Wolfgang Bayer and
Carl Cristopher Plüer
-England: Cristopher Hervey,
Richard Twis, Henry Swinburne,
Joseph Townsend and John Talbot
Dillon
-France: Etienne Silhouette, Jean
Francois Peyron and Nicolas
Massias
…
19th Century: the peak point of
this curiosity, as Granada became
a center of a pilgrimage for
writers and painters: George
Borrow, Washington Irving,
Gautier, Chateaubriand, David
Roberts, Dumas, Giraud,
Desbarrelees,...
Granada and tourism – early travellers
Cuentos de La Alhambra / Tales of the Alhambra. W. Irving, 1852
13. Time Lapse Alhambra Sunset, 2012. Video by David Snakeskin, 20012 / courtesy of the artist http://vimeo.com/46514905
The myth of Granada (Calatrava, 2002)
14. El cuento de la Alhambra, 2006. Valeriano López / Courtesy of the artist
The romantic and the collective tourist gaze
15. The ‘silk trade’ adds extra, more fanciful connotations to the Alcaicería
Roman fresco / ‘Silk route’ map (Wikipedia) / Chinese engraving
17. ḲAYSĀRIYYA: the name of a large system of public buildings laid out in the form of cloisters
with shops, workshops, warehouses and frequently also living-rooms" (Streck, 1913-1936)
Encyclopedia of Islam
18. Places derive from kaysariyya
-Cairo
-Beirut
-Damascus
- Aleppo
- Mosul
-Al-Salamiyya
-Irbil
-Baghdad
-Isfahan
-Algiers
-Fez
-Spain
The word was used for similar commercial structures
The Medieval Arab World. From 750 to 1700. Maps from Kantara Project – Mediterranean Heritage
19. "Se diría que esta plaza es una pequeña ciudad, con
murallas dotadas de doce puertas, cada una de las
cuales está atravesada que no permite la entrada de
caballos ni de otras caballerías. (...) Se divide el recinto
de la plaza en quince partes. (...) Dos están destinadas
a los traficantes de las sedas, con lado para los
vendedores de flecos, cordones y otros adornos (...), y
otro cuartel para los de las sedas teñidas para camisas,
fundas de almohada y otras prendas. (...) Continúan en
la plaza otros dos sectores donde se vende la pañería
de lana llegada de Europa, siendo granadinos todos
estos mercaderes. También se despachan allí géneros
de seda, cofias caseras y sedas crudas. (...)”
Leo Africanus (c.1500) – Alcaicería of Fez
The Alcaicería was devoted to textiles and specifically to silk, manufactured or raw
Descripción general del África, y de las cosas peregrinas que allí hay. Juan León Africano; c.1500
22. A cluster of shops joined up with other administrative facilities located in the centre of the
main Moorish Iberian cities (Balbas, 1949)
Granada
Toledo
Valencia
Palma
Córdoba
Seville
Málaga Velez-Málaga
23. An enclosed merchandising area with limited opening hours
Alcaicería de la seda, Sevilla. Plano de Sevilla, Pablo Olavide[1711]
24. Following different layouts: a street, a patio with arcades or a complex with narrow streets
Alcaicería, Sevilla. Hypothetical reconstruction, Juan Carlos Hernández Nuñez [Laboratorio de Arte, 7; 1994]
25. Alcaicería, Sevilla. Hypothesis drawn on aerial view, Sergio Palma [Sevilla en estampas, 2010]
Clearly delimitated with monitored gates with a strict control of their use
28. Alcaicería of San Fernando, Manila, Philippines
Design, Tomás Sanz *1756+, opened in 1726, demolished in 1850’s
29. “Remaining in the cities of Toledo and Granada”. Diccionario de Autoridades, 1726
The decline of the silk trade led the disappearance of the alcaicerías in Spain
30. Real Academia Española (RAE) Dictionary, 2013 [on-line version]
The modern definitions refer to Granada
32. Chronological line: a space with over 6 centuries with commercial use
Alcaicería
Written documents
Plans of Granada
33. Evolution: 16th Century - Today
Plans by José Luis Garzón Cardenete (Real sitio y fuerte de La Alcaicería de Granada, 2004)
16th 17th 18th-1843 after 1843 today
34. Archeological remains. There are no Arab descriptions of Granada’s Alcaicería.
"Transaction Document" 1460 (Repositorio Institucional Univ. de Granada) & shaft and capital, 1333-1354 (Museo de la Alhambra)
35. The first historiography (1890): Alcaicería of Granada in the time of the Moors
Indalecio Ventura Sabatel, Boletín del Centro Artístico de Granada, V, año 1890. Courtesy of Carlos Sánchez
36. Detail: the Alcaicería of Granada in the time of the Moors
Indalecio Ventura Sabatel, Boletín del Centro Artístico de Granada, V, año 1890. Detail.
37. “walking along calle Zacatín, before reaching the
square [Bib-rambla], to the right, through a small gate
one enters a place called Alcaicería, which is an
enclosed quarter between two gates with many
narrow alleys; there are shops everywhere run by
moriscos [muslims who converted to Christianity] and
an infinite amount of goods in multiple shapes and
varied nature. It is similar to our haberdasheries or our
Rialto [in Venice]. Because, truth be told, there is an
endless amount of things there, especially a large
quantity of needlework” (Navagiero, Andrea 1526)
There are many descriptions of travelers from the Christian era (after 1492)
Description of Antonio Navagiero, 1526
38. The Alcaicería of Granada in 1612: enclosed perimeter and interior layout
Plataforma de Vico (1612), detail. Photo courtesy of Blanca Espigares Rooney
39. The Alcaicería of Granada in 1796
Plano de Dalmau (1796), detail. Photo courtesy of BER
40. The Alcaicería of Granada in 1787
Colored photocopy by uses of the Plano Tomás López 1897 Archivo Municipal de Granada (original plan in Archivo General de Simancas). Photo courtesy of CSG
Key:
Green: shops
Red: silk shops
Blue: bookshops
Soft pink: The Silk Custom House /
House of the administrator
Yellow: shrine
Brown: room for guard dogs
Orange: guard’s quarter
White: shop & house of the Alcaide
Dark pink: private houses
41. After 1843. A regular layout with ornamentations in a prominent Alhambresque style
The Alhambresque reconstruction. Contreras, Amador, Pugnaire, Romero. Plan. Archivo Municipal de Granada, photo courtesy of CSG
42. Modular units to be applied to each shop
The Alhambresque reconstruction Archs: Contreras, Amador, Pugnaire, Romero. Elevation Arch. Municipal de Granada, photo courtesy of CSG
43. An ideal Alcaicería
The Alhambresque recosntruction. Archs: Amador, Pugnaire, Romero. Detail. Archivo Municipal de Granada, photo courtesy of CSG
44. The operation did not have real commercial success
Photos after the reconstruction. Archive CS
45. Postcards from the Alcaicería. Left: 1905; right: circa 1970's
A new decision: theme market for handcrafts, 1941
46. The Alcaicería was revamped and set to be used for a new purpose: tourism
A piece of news: IDEAL 28th, January 1941 (Newspaper Library IDEAL)
47. 1941-1980s / Local arts and crafts tradition has been displaced by new souvenir products
Collection of postcards , after 1941 (Todocoleccion.net)
48. 1980-2012 / The heritage protection
Card “UA U-9-Alcaicería” Plan Especial Centro, July 2002
49. 2007-2012 / Plan Especial Recinto Alcaicería
General plan, Arch: Carlos Sánchez
50. 2007-2012 / Plan Especial Recinto Alcaicería: before and after
Photos: Bottom, before [photos from arch: Carlos Sánchez] / Top, after: [photos from Flickr/Alcaicería]
After the restoration
Before the restoration
51. The complex is not listed as a heritage asset, should it be included?
Print screen: http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/culturaydeporte/web/areas/bbcc/catalogo [24th May 2013]
58. Print screen, Flickr: Alcaicería
“the anticipation is constructed and sustained through a variety of non tourist practices”
Urry, 1990
59. Route The Alhambra: Territoy, space and city. Interactive map. Print screen: www.alhambra-patronato.es (click here)
“The idea of post-tourist suggests that tourism might be viewed as a game”
Urry, 1990
60. Youtube: vídeo uploaded by a tourist (2009). Print screen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DlOYDF4x0c
“post-tourists delight in the inauthenticity of the normal tourist experience”
Urry, 1990
“Look! Look!
Arab heritage…
This is exactly like a
souk un Tunis… just
that here I am not
afraid… everything
must come from
there… Look! Look
at this apron with
flamenco frills”
From the video
61. Collection of recent photos (after 2008) / virtual itinerary. Print screens, photos from flickr: alcaicería
“(Malls) are conspicuous for cleanliness, and newness”
Urry, 1990
62. Alcaicerías del milenio. Poster of the event in Almería, 2011. Photos from Internet, Almería and Jaen (2011)
“Everything is a copy, where what is fake can often seem more real than the real”
Urry, 1990
63. ?
I fantasize that somewhere in the world there is a modern shopping mall called
Alcaicería that could serve to complete the chronicle, a space that would be a copy
(of Granada's recently restored 19th century Alcaicería) of the copy (of Granada's
Medieval Silk Market) of another copy (of the ancient Byzantine imperial market
places), "each of which seems more real than the original" (Urry, 1990) but always
ready for commerce and shopping to take place.
64. In the mean time, you can also shop at www.alcaiceria.com
Products, categories: oriental bazaar; embroidery ; fajalauza / painted ceramics ; gifts and souvenirs; taracea / wood with incrustations)
65. The remains of silk
Photo: JASM (Shop window, calle libreros, Granada, 10/01/2103)
