The Albaicín or Albayzín is a neighborhood of the east of the Spanish city of Granada, in the
autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located at an altitude of 700 to 800 m above sea level. In
1994, the Albaicín was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco as an extension of the monumental
complex of the Alhambra and Generalife.2
It began to settle in Iberian times, and there was
dispersed Roman settlement. There is no data of
Islamic settlement prior to the arrival of the Berber
Zirids, so it is assumed that the city was
abandoned from the end of the Roman Empire
until the founding of the Zirí kingdom (1013) that
was when it was surrounded by walls (Alcazaba
Cadima ).
The Arab population is manifested in two nuclei: the Albaicín and the Alhambra. This
neighborhood had its greatest influence in the time of the Nasrid. The Albaicín maintains the
urban fabric of the Nasrid period, with narrow streets, in an intricate network that extends
from the highest part (San Nicolas) to the course of the Darro River and Elvira Street, which
are in Plaza Nueva.