The Plaza de Bib-Rambla is a square in the city of Granada that has seen the city’s significant historical transformations. The term “Bib-Rambla” is an Arabic one, meaning “Gate to the Sand” or “Gate of the River,” as the plaza previously functioned as the gateway to the city in the period of Muslim control (particularly in the Nasrid period). Nowadays, the plaza is the closest thing Granada has to a Castilian main square and boasts cafés, souvenir shops, florists, and bookstores for students to bring a commemorative item back home! It is also located close to the Granada Cathedral and the Alhambra, so any tourists can easily walk to multiple incredible sites in a single day! The Plaza de Bib-Rambla has been noted as a common meeting place for both tourists and Granadans alike, so it would be in one’s best interest to become familiar with one of the most significant Granadan locales. Another reason to visit the Plaza de Bib-Rambla would be to immerse oneself into the history of a city that has experienced Spain’s most formative and influential historical trends.

1. El Fuente de los Gigatones: The Contribution of an Absentee Monarch

One of the Plaza de Bib-Rambla’s most notable features is the Fuente de los Gigatones (depicted below), or the “Fountain of Giants,” a beautiful fountain in the center of the plaza depicting the Gods of Rome and topped with a statue of Neptune.

The fountain was erected in the mid-17th century during the rule Charles V, a Holy Roman Emperor. It was originally placed in a different location, but was moved multiple times until it ended up in the plaza. Charles V was considered an “absent” monarch because he was not frequently present in Spain as a result of his gigantic empire and poorly received first impression. In the beginning of his rule (1517-1556), Charles V visited Spain for the first time and stole money from churches in Aragon, did not speak Spanish, and left a foreign regent in his place upon departure. Negtaive sentiments toward the new monarch never truly dissipated despite his best efforts, and the conjunction with the geopolitical landscape of Europe led Charles V into abdication. He spent the rest of his days in our lovely city of Granada, located within walking distance of Plaza de Bib-Rambla.

2. From Bazaar to Bonfire: The Plaza Bib-Rambla in the Age of Christianization

The Plaza de Bib-Rambla was comprised of bazaars, medieval jousts, and bullfights when Spain was under Muslim rule (711-1492). The city of Granada was the last city to see the Christian reconquest and thus, its capture in 1492 punctuated the end of the Reconquista. Historians have opined that Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, a royal official, used the Plaza de Bib-Rambla to burn 80,000 Arabic texts from the city’s first University (Madrasah of Granada). He falsely claimed them to be copies of the Qur’an. The Plaza was significantly expanded to best suit large-scale celebrations such as Corpus Christi (see below), which any tourist can attend in late May/June.

The Christianization of the Plaza de Bib-Rambla paralleled another event in Spain that occurred after the Reconquista: The Spanish Inquisition. The inquisition was established with the authorization of Pope Sixtus IV in 1478 and aimed to find and punish “Conversos,” or those that converted from Judaism to Christianity, who still secretly practiced Judaism. In reality, however, the inquisition targeted, punished, and even tortured ordinary conversos who did not secretly uphold their former religion. The Plaza de Bib-Rambla witnessed the executions of many of these converts in the days of the Inquisition.

3. Defining Spanish Identity: The Franco Period

Though significant for its Muslim and Christian history, the Plaza de Bib-Rambla also experienced more contemporary historical events too. During the Franco regime (1936-1975), missions were sent out in attempts to return to and reinforce Spanish identity through Catholicism following the divergent political ideologies that led to the Civil War (1936-1939). According to Historians, the Holy Mission in Granada occurred in October of 1949 and transformed the Plaza de Bib-Rambla with loudspeakers and Christian paraphernalia that extended the seemingly constant religious lectures of the Missionaries. Attendance at these gatherings numbered in the tens of thousands, highlighting the fact that Granada was consumed by religion in these years.

For more information on the Bib-Rambla and Granada as a whole, see the bibliography and/or the further reading page.

Bibliography

Barceló Hotel Group. “Plaza de Bib-Rambla: a mirror of Granada’s age-old history.” Barceló Experiences 2024. https://www.barcelo.com/guia-turismo/en/spain/granada/things-to-do/plaza-bib-rambla/.

Dixon, Arthur. “Granada, Spain.” World Literature Today 89, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 2015): 5. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7588/worllitetoda.89.1.0005.

Hernández, Javier. “Fountain of the Giants.” Granada por el Mundo. 2023. https://granadaporelmundo.com/fuente-de-los-gigantones/.

Romero, Cobo Francisco, Migeul Ángel Del Arco Blanco, and Teresa Maria Ortega Lopez. “The Stability and Consolidation of the Francoist Regime. The Case of Eastern Andalusia, 1936-1950.” Contemporary European History 20, no. 1 (Feb. 2011): 37-59. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41238342.

Rutter, Ian. “Corpus Christi in Granada.” Two South of Granada: A Travel and Lifestyle Blog from Andalucia. 2017. https://www.twosouthofgranada.com/home/2017/6/19/corpus-christi-in-granada.