THE PIONEERS OF NEW ARCHITECTURE. GRANADA, ALMERÍA.

Pioneer examples of the Renaissance in Spain were two Andalusian castles, restored at the beginning of the 16th century by nobles who backed the cultural change and who turned their old fortresses into palaces, where the new artistic and architectural tendencies out of Italy reigned supreme.

Some years after the end of the "reconquest", towards 1509, the Marquis of Cenete, a member of the powerful Mendoza family, restored the Castle of La Calahorra, with a design by Lorenzo Vázquez and carried out by artists from Genoa and Lombardy, including Michele Carlone.

Between 1506 and 1515, the Marquis of los Vélez had the magnificent Castle of Vélez Blanco built by Italians. Both buildings have had differing histories. In the former, one can still see the contrast between the outer massive aspect and the refined interior, with its "cortile", the stairs and decoration, but the latter is now in New York´s Metropolitan Museum. Vélez Blanco however, has the facade of the Convent of San Luis.

Guadix, Episcopal see after the "reconquest", has a late Gothic Cathedral designed by Siloé in the mid-16th century, in which the chapel of San Torcuato is outstanding. The Plaza Mayor, though built between 1610 and 1617 and reformed in 1834, still has a Renaissance air. Baza has a late Gothic Colegiata by Rodrigo de Gijaba. The parish church in Huéscar is by Siloé. For further examples of the Renaissance in this area, we may go to Almería, where the Cathedral was reformed in the mid-16th century by Juan de Orea, fundamentally affecting the facade.