Convento de Santa Catalina de Zafra (Dominicas)

"The convent of Santa Catalina de Siena, better known as the convent of Zafra, is located in the same block as the Casa de Zafra, in the old suburb of Axares, outside the walls of the Alcazaba Cadima. It is the result of the grouping of several Nasrid houses, including the Casa de Zafra itself, the only Nasrid house (14th century) that was not demolished to build the convent and which is located in the northwest corner of the block. It was founded in 1507 by the will of the secretary of the Catholic Monarchs, D. Hernando de Zafra, and his wife Leonor de Torres. The property was ceded to her by the kings in gratitude for her decisive role in the negotiations for the surrender of Granada. Today it continues to be used as a cloistered convent for Dominican nuns. It is a magnificent example of the cultural mix in the religious architecture of the Albaicín: It combines Nasrid elements with others of Mudejar, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque style. The extensive and complex layout of the Christian conventual construction is articulated around three courtyards. The main one, rectangular, is located on the south side and consists of two bodies of arcades and a central fountain. The ground floor is composed on the ground floor of rectilinear arches on thick Doric columns supported on a base and simple coffered ceilings. The spandrels of the arches of the south portico are decorated with the founders' coats of arms. The upper gallery reuses Muslim columns and capitals from the Caliphate and Nasrid periods. In the eastern corners of both floors there are rectilinear passage arches with plasterwork, smooth in the lower gallery and with ataurique motifs in the upper one. At the corners is the staircase with three flights of rectangular landings and covered by a framework with a bow decoration. Of the rooms around this courtyard, we highlight the interesting friezes of Plateresque ornamentation located in the refectory. The church is arranged parallel to the main façade of the Carrera del Darro. Its Renaissance doorway opens onto it, the layout of which is related to the Siloé circle. It consists of a first body formed by a semicircular arch decorated with scallops and a corbel in the keystone and roundels with busts of Dominicans in its spandrels. The arch is flanked by fine Ionic pilasters, bent and scarcely highlighted, which support an entablature. It contains the following inscription: "This monastery was ordered to be made by Hernando de çafra secretary of the Catholic Monarchs and Donna Leonor de Torres, his wife, in the year MDXL." Above the entablature there is a niche topped by a cross and decorated with scallops, a decorative motif very present in the buildings of Zafra. Its interior, also in the shape of a scallop, houses a statue of Saint Catherine of Siena. The niche is flanked by a decoration of fins and, above them, the founders' coats of arms, which hang from loops held by the jaws of two lions' heads. In the extension of the façade, composed of a ground floor and two upper floors, is the entrance to the convent through a door with a lowered arch."

"Try the famous dulces de convento here. You will place your order with one of the nuns through the lazy susan."