The patio of the “Casa Zafra” in Granada, Spain, is rectangular and in its center there is an elongated pool with a white marble fountain at one end. In other times it should have had its “arrayanes” bordering the pool, just as the “Patio de Comares” in the Alhambra has been preserved.
After the conquest of Granada, “Isabel la Católica” yielded to her faithful secretary, Don Hernando de Zafra, several lands occupied by Nasrid palace houses, among them was the “Casa de Zafra”. When Don Hernando and his wife Dona Leonor passed away, they left stipulated in a testament that the convent Santa Catalina de Siena was built on those properties. The convent was founded in 1520. The “Casa de Zafra” was preserved almost intact inside the convent’s premises.
Today the house is home to the “Albaicín” Interpretation Center, a project that aims to enhance the historic value of the house and turn it into the entrance door and letter of introduction of the “Albaicín”, a quarter declared a World Heritage Site in 1994.