Corral del Carbón

The Corral del Carbón or Correo de los Moros is a 14th-century monument located in the Spanish city of Granada (Andalusia). It is the only Nasrid alhóndiga preserved in its entirety in the Iberian peninsula.HistoryIt 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 (new bridge) until 1501, and later puente del carbón or puente del Álamo or puente de los Curtidores (qantarat al-Dabbayin), located on the Darro River communicated the Alhóndiga with the souk. In general, as described Leopoldo Torres Balbás (Chronicles of Archaeology of Muslim Spain, XIX. Tomo 2. PP 235), 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 after the Roman horreum until Islamic times. The monumental cover comes from the eastern iwan, whose origins have been much discussed, and that is already in the Sassanian palaces. The transmission to the West would be through the Egypt, where the entrance portico opened by a large arch, vaulted with mocárabes, and at the bottom is the lintel door of access to the building, and a twin window above, is architectural layout very widespread. It is for example in Cairo in the Al-Zahir of Baybars I (665-1309) or Granada with the Gate of Justice in Alhambra (749-1348).