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Spain’s Golden Age

If ever anybody was in the right place at the right time – that’s to say in the Christian camp at Santa Fe when Granada capitulated – it was the Genoese adventurer Cristóbal Colon, aka Christopher Columbus. His petition to the Catholic monarchs for funding for an expedition to sail west in order to reach the East fell on fertile soil.

The discovery of America, and along with it the fabulous riches that would make their way back to a Spain newly united under Habsburg rule, was to usher in Spain’s Siglo de Oro or Golden Age. Spain’s Empire would soon stretch from the Caribbean through Central and South America and on to the Philippines; riches flowed back from the colonies at a time when Sevilla and Cádiz numbered among the wealthiest cities in Europe. The most obvious manifestation of this wealth, and nowhere more so than in Andalucía, were the palaces, churches, monasteries and convents that were built during this period: never again would the country see such generous patronage of the Arts.