The Palacio de la Madraza sits quietly on Calle Oficios in Granada's historic center, carrying within its walls a story that spans seven centuries. When I first stepped inside, I was struck by how this unassuming building once housed the only major Islamic university in medieval Al-Andalus.

Yusuf I founded this madrasa in 1349, positioning it strategically near the main mosque and the Alcaicería silk market. Walking through today, you can still sense that intellectual energy. Students once filled these spaces studying Islamic law, medicine, astronomy, and mathematics. Ibn al-Khatib, one of Granada's most celebrated scholars, walked these same corridors as a young student.

The building's history reads like a condensed version of Spanish history itself. After 1492, it survived briefly under Christian rule before Cardinal Cisneros ordered the library burned in a public bonfire at Plaza Bib-Rambla. The madrasa then became Granada's city hall, and most of the original structure disappeared during an 18th-century baroque renovation.

What remains authentic is the prayer room – a jewel of Nasrid architecture. This square chamber showcases the mathematical precision Islamic builders achieved, transitioning from square walls to an octagonal upper section through intricate muqarnas work. The stucco decoration covers nearly every surface, and sixteen small windows create shifting patterns of light throughout the day.

The contrast between old and new is everywhere. The baroque facade from the 1720s frames that surviving medieval oratory. The Mudéjar council chamber, with its stunning wooden ceiling, represents yet another architectural layer. Recent archaeological excavations revealed even older foundations, some possibly dating to the 11th century.

Since 2011, the University of Granada has opened the building to visitors. The transformation from medieval university to city hall to cultural center reflects Granada's own evolution. An audio guide helps decode the complex architectural timeline, though honestly, simply standing in that original prayer room and imagining the scholarly debates that once echoed here is experience enough.

The building feels more like a palimpsest than a monument – each era wrote over the previous one without completely erasing what came before. That's perhaps what makes visiting the Palacio de la Madraza so compelling. It's not just about admiring beautiful tilework or carved stucco, but about touching different moments in Granada's layered past.