Alcaiceria, silk bazaar

The Castilian word alcaiceria takes its root from the Arab word al-qaysariyya based on the Latin Caesar, which itself comes from the Greek term for Imperial or Caesar’s market. This term alludes to the emperor Justinian, who granted the Arab people the right to trade in silk. In the Orient, the term used for this type of construction is the Persian word khan or caravanserai. The word alcaiceria is used to describe a group of shops belonging to the royal patrimony and used to sell silk and other precious materials imported from the Orient. Among the cities, which boast an alcaiceria, we find Granada, Cordoba, Seville and Toledo and their silk bazaars have been compared in size to the one found in Fez, even though the Moroccan city is much larger.

The alcaiceria in Granada is thought to have been built in the 14^th- 15^th century. It is first mentioned in a letter from king Abû Nasr Sa‘d concerning the sale of two shops. At the time, the space occupied by this commercial hub was much greater than today. It stretched from the qibla wall of the mosque as far as Bibrambla Square in the west. To the south, it reached Saqqâtîn Street, where rag merchants plied their trade, and as far as Darbalcata (dyers) Street in the east. The establishment was divided into two zones; to the west were the customs and the offices of the administration, to the east, around 200 shops opened onto narrow alleyways and tiny squares. The silk merchants occupied the main street, which crossed the commercial zone via the al-qantara al-jadîda (the new bridge) over the Darro, finally arriving at the funduq al-jadîda (today’s Corral del Carbón), the corn exchange.

The bazaar had around a dozen entranceways spread around the four cardinal points and these were closed to the public at nightfall. Guards and their dogs protected the shops and their merchandise. The governor of the Alcaiceria was nominated directly by the governor of the Alhambra. He always originated from the nobility and his residence was situated in the commercial area of the bazaar. His occupation was to organise the security arrangements, to survey the opening and closing times and to manage the upkeep of the bazaar through daily tours of inspection.

The 200 or so shops were small in size and were all equipped with a single red-ochre painted tilting door, which also served to protect the merchandise from the sun and rain. At this time the bazaar had mosaic pavements decorated with both Roman and Arab patterns.

Once Granada had been conquered by the Catholic kings, it was decided to maintain the activity of the Alcaiceria, as the trade in silk and other precious materials was an important source of revenue. Documents exist, where European travellers during the 16^th and 17^th centuries described the activities of the bazaar. The number of shops had been decreased, but the range of goods sold increased.

 A flood in 1478 caused great damage and material loss. The whole structure was destroyed during a fire, which started in a match shop in 1843. Reconstruction and restoration work was undertaken very rapidly. The street layout was changed to give more symmetry while losing some of the original character. The result was to give the bazaar a neo-Arab aspect, similar to other 19^th century restorations of Nasrid monuments.