Europe in These Times: Los Reyes Católicos

Granada, Spain, 28 December 2021

The crypt of Ferdinand and Isabella

The Alhambra looms large over the city of Granada, matching in metaphorical stature if not in actual size the snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada in the near distance. Its story, from becoming a seat of Muslim power in Iberia to its eventual fall to to the forces of the Reconquista in the fifteenth century—marking the end of all Muslim territorial control on the peninsula—is every bit as fascinating as the artistic and architectural wonders contained within it. For all that, the Alhambra is far from the only worthwhile stop here in this remarkable city at the foot of southern Spain’s mountain range.

The army to which Granada fell was that of Ferdinand and Isabella, “Los Reyes Católicos”. The marriage of the two had united their respective kingdoms of Aragon and Castille, essentially creating Spain. Of course, those monarchs’ fame in the United States is most closely tied to their sponsorship of Christopher Columbus’s voyage, which itself has a close connection to this place: a witness to the surrender of Granada, Columbus shortly thereafter presented his plan for his historic voyage to the monarchs, at the Alhambra. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that Ferdinand and Isabella chose to be interred here in Granada, the city that they reconquered, somewhat fittingly, in the year 1492.

The Basilica of St. John of God

For all of their accomplishments, the monarchs chose a strikingly simple resting place: plain dark coffins set side-by-side in a small chamber underneath the Royal Chapel of Granada, with only a wall-mounted crucifix and a stand with a small scepter to adorn the plain gray stone of the space. Even the church above, which indeed has an impressive tomb effigy set over the crypt chamber and a large and ornate altarpiece, is comparatively modest for what might be expected as a tribute to these monarchs whose reign is so prominent not only in Spanish, but world, history.

But this city is not lacking in more grandiose churches. Less than a mile away from the final resting place of Los Reyes Católicos stands the Basilica of Saint John of God, a baroque masterpiece of stunning beauty. Within it, a golden chamber elevated one story up and directly behind the altar holds the relics of the titular saint. Standing here in this remarkable small room, one can look out through a portal, over an elevated nativity scene and the altar itself, across the entirety of one of the most impressive church interiors in all of Europe.

The Golden Room

This golden chamber of relics and art is perhaps the best possible place to contemplate this city as a microcosm of European Christian history; in Granada, the faith intertwined with politics and power, drew the passions of populations and kingdoms, inspired art worth preserving for centuries. Up in the heights above them and the city, the Alhambra testifies to the diversity of cultures that shaped this place and this continent—not just the Catholic victors of 1492 but also their Muslim predecessors whose architectural and artistic sensibilities make the great fortress so stunning to see, who injected Aristotelian thinking into the Europe (and the Catholicism) of the twelfth century and beyond. A short distance away, the monarchs that won the Alhambra once and for all find their final resting place in a humble basement. And from this room, too, one looks out over the semi-dark below, where today’s faithful come to live out their creed.