Walking through the narrow cobbled streets of the Albaicín in Granada, you'll stumble upon the Church of San Salvador, though locals usually just call it El Salvador. What makes this place fascinating isn't immediately obvious from the outside – it's the layers of history literally built one on top of another.

The Iglesia Parroquial de Nuestro Salvador sits exactly where the neighborhood's main mosque once stood, built by Muslims from Baeza in the 13th century. After Granada fell to the Catholic Monarchs in 1492, the mosque kept functioning for several years until Cardinal Cisneros consecrated it as a church in 1499. This wasn't exactly following the surrender agreements, but that's another story.

The most striking part is the courtyard you encounter before entering the main church. Those horseshoe arches surrounding three sides? They're the real deal – the original 13th-century mosque courtyard where worshippers once performed their ablutions. Walking through here feels like stepping back centuries, especially early in the morning when tourist groups haven't arrived yet.

The church building itself took much longer to complete than anyone expected. They started replacing the old mosque structure in 1565, but the Morisco rebellion of 1568 and subsequent expulsion devastated the neighborhood's population and economy. What was meant to be an ambitious architectural project ended up more modest – a mix of Mudéjar tradition and the severe Renaissance classicism popular at the time.

The building you see today isn't entirely original. A devastating fire in 1936 destroyed most of the interior and artworks during anti-clerical riots. The reconstruction took decades, with the mosque courtyard being restored in the 1950s.

Inside, the single nave leads to a chancel separated by a large arch. The original wooden ceiling was replaced with cement vaults after the fire, though they tried to maintain the aesthetic. Some valuable pieces survived or were replaced – there's a sculpture by Pedro Duque Cornejo and paintings by local masters like Bocanegra.

The main entrance portal from 1543 shows the ornate Plateresque style of Diego Siloe, one of Granada's most influential Renaissance architects. It was carefully restored in 1996, maintaining those intricate stone carvings that somehow survived everything this place has been through.

If you want deeper insights into the complex history layered here, an audio guide helps connect the architectural details with the dramatic social changes that shaped this corner of the Albaicín.