Minaret of San José

The tower that rises in the middle of this narrow street is believed to date back to the 10th century, or perhaps even earlier. It was built by the Umayyads and originally served as the minaret of a mosque that once stood here, known as the Mosque of the Hermits. When the Catholic Monarchs arrived, the mosque was converted into a church, but the minaret was left intact. Today, it stands as one of the oldest surviving minarets in Spain. It’s also one of the few remaining traces of the architecture and cultural traditions of the people who lived in Granada even before the Almoravids arrived in the 11th century.