The Albaicín is a district of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It retains the narrow winding streets of its Medieval Moorish past dating back to the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada. It was declared a World Heritage Site in 1984, along with the Alhambra.
The area that later became the Albayzín was first populated by the Iberians, the original inhabitants of the Iberian peninsula, with dispersed Roman settlements later appearing nearby. Nothing is known of its history before the arrival of the Muslim Arabs and Berbers, so it is assumed that the city was abandoned after the fall of the Roman Empire until the founding of the Zirid kingdom in 1013, when its defensive walls were built. According to some linguists it owes its present name to the inhabitants of the city of Baeza, called "Beatia" by the Romans, who were banished after the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa and settled here outside the walls. Other linguists assert that the name derives from the Arabic al-bayyāzīn (pronounced al-bayyīzīn with the imāla vowel-shift), meaning "suburb of falconers". However, the fact that in Andalusia there are many other neighborhoods with that name, including those in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Alhama de Granada, Salobreña, and Antequera, among others, casts doubt on this thesis. A more likely hypothesis is that the name of Albaicín derives from Arabic البائسين (al-bāʾisīn, 'the miserable' .
The Albaicín, one of the oldest centers of Muslim culture in Granada, contains the Alhambra, the Realejo (which was the Jewish quarter), and the Arrabal de Bib-Arrambla, in the flat part of the city. Before the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula there were three small settlements in what is now the city of Granada and its surroundings:
- Iliberis (Elvira), later called "Albaicín" and "Alcazaba"
- Castilia, near the present town of Atarfe
- Garnata, on the hill opposite the Alcazaba, which was more a neighborhood of Iliberis.
However, current archaeological research indicates the Madinat Ilbira (Medina Elvira) was located in Atarfe when that city's population was moved to the Albayzín after the fall of the Caliphate of Córdoba in the 11th century. The inhabitants of Ilbira remained clients of the Berber Sinhaya and the Zirids until the capital of the Cora of Elvira was transferred to the Albayzín hill. The neighborhood had its greatest influence at the time of the Nasrids. The Albaicín maintains the urban layout of the Moorish period, with narrow streets winding in an intricate network that extends from the top at San Nicolás and through Calle Elvira, both located in Plaza Nueva, by the course of the river Darro.
The traditional type of house is the carmen, consisting of a freestanding house surrounded by a high wall that separates it from the street and including a small orchard or garden. The channeling and distribution of drinking water through pipes laid from wells was characteristic of this district; about 28 of these have been found, of which most are preserved but not in use because the pipes were broken over time.
In December 1499, the Albaicín was the starting point of a rebellion throughout Granada, triggered by the forced conversion of the Muslim population to Christianity.
In 1994, the Albaicín was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO as an extension of the monuments of the Alhambra and the Generalife
