The Minister of Culture and Sports, Patricia del Pozo, and the Mayor of Granada, Marifrán Carazo, have supervised the reconstruction and rehabilitation works of the historic Carmen del Negro site. The visit took place after the recent resumption of the works, halted since 2007, thanks to the investment of 2.8 million euros provided by the Alhambra Plan of the Andalusian Government. Specifically, these works will allow the completion of the building that will house the Municipal Archive.
The Minister of Culture and Sports has highlighted the importance of the intervention in this site, «one of the most emblematic in Granada», while noting that over the years of abandonment, little maintenance has been carried out, resulting in the municipal archive building accumulating «affectations and pathologies«, which had to be addressed first. She also stated that the building, whose completion is scheduled for the last quarter of this year, «will feature high construction and environmental performance.»
For her part, the Mayor of Granada stated that these works «unlock a project stalled for 16 years and will culminate in the completion of the first phase of the project, carried out by architects Antonio Luis García-Fresneda and Juan Manuel Zamora Malagón, based on the design by Luis Feduchi Canosa, winner of the public architecture competition organized by the Granada City Council in 2000.»
Marifrán Carazo highlighted the «excellent results for the city from the Alhambra Plan, promoted by the Andalusian Government in Granada for the conservation and recovery of the historical and cultural heritage,» while also stating that «we will continue working to bring a comprehensive rehabilitation agreement for the Carmen del Negro to the table as soon as possible.»
«In the meantime, once this space in the municipal archive at the Palacio de los Córdoba is vacated and transferred to the new building of the Carmen del Negro, the city will have an additional cultural space, and for this reason, we have offered it to the Ajsaris house to house the private collection once it is bequeathed to the City Council and the family of the owner, Juan Manuel Segura, has shown interest in the proposal, which they will evaluate,» she revealed.
The intervention and the site
The tender for the works of Carmen del Negro, approved in the Local Government Board on May 10, 2024, was awarded to the company Albaida Infraestructuras-Construcción y Servicios Especiales SERIESA. The intervention includes the excavation, foundation, load-bearing structure, and the construction of the roof slabs, affected by moisture due to leakage in the load-bearing walls and the oxidation of metal structures, as well as by the collapse of the slab due to corrosion in the installation area.
The new building, which will adhere to the original spirit and configuration, will have three levels and a gallery in the basement that will facilitate the integration of new facilities.
The site occupied by the Carmen del Negro is located on Cuesta del Chapiz street, at numbers 12 to 14. Almost rectangular in shape, it has an area of 4,492 square meters and is divided into two areas: at the front is the Carmen, with a facade on Cuesta del Chapiz, consisting of a mid-20th century house that reproduces a ‘neomudéjar’ decoration system, and the rest of the site is made up of an old orchard where the works of the Municipal Historical Archive began, highlighting the existence of the Axares aqueduct, of Zirid origin, which takes water from the Darro River to lead it down Calle San Juan de los Reyes into the city.
Associated with this aqueduct was the so-called ‘molino del negro’, which gave the Carmen its name, currently non-existent, and was located in the vicinity of the archive building, on the upper terrace currently occupied by the Ave María schools. It is estimated that this mill existed until the 17th century.
The Carmen del Negro orchard has remained with scarcely any changes since the establishment in the 13th century of large orchards in the area with a type of aristocratic residence, such as ‘Dār al-Baida’, of which the current site presumably formed part as a cultivation terrace.
The 20th-century building, with a neomudéjar decoration system, borders the Palacio de los Córdova and the Ave María Schools. Refurbished on multiple occasions, it is envisioned as a future museum space.
Currently, the Municipal Historical Archive is housed in the Palacio de los Córdova, which, despite having a consultation room, does not have the most suitable characteristics to store, preserve, and exhibit the historical document collections of the city of Granada.
Alhambra Plan
Approved by the Andalusian Government at the initiative of the Ministry of Culture in December 2020, its objective is to reverse the recovery of heritage located in the surroundings of the monumental complex, part of the surplus of the treasury of the Nasrid monument. Thus, in the words of Minister Patricia del Pozo, it fulfills «one of Granada’s great demands.»