Stars, flowers, triangles, moons, hearts, curls, blossoms. They feel nice under my shoes when I walk on them, slightly uneven and round. They decorate alleys and squares. The cobblestones in Granada look so beautiful. Empedrados are not unique to the city of Granada. But that’s where I first noticed them. These are all empedrados granadinos.

Throughout the towns and cities of the Kingdom of Granada you walk on carpets of pebbles. The empedrados carpet pedestrian areas – squares, alleys, promenades. They are made of black and white pebbles. When it rains the pebbles shine and the contrast between black and white is starker. In the greener seasons, grass and moss grow between the pebbles and add a shade of green.

Streets paved with stones can be traced back to ancient civilisations, including streets paved with boulders in Prehistoric Crete and Roman tessellation and mosaics. The Granada empedrado was born in the Arab culture in the independent Umayyad caliphate of Cordoba (9th – 12th century). It was used on the roads and in the houses of the wealthy. The Umayyad empedrado combines the tessellation of Roman pavings with the raw materials used by the Aegeans.

The first designs were geometric, with rounded stones of a darker colour than the ones in the filling of the design. The empedrados are made of limestone pebbles usually taken from local riverbeds, naturally eroded in rounded shapes of about 5 centimetres. Later aesthetic innovations came with the use of the herringbone pattern due to the elongated shape of the darker slate stones. The Granada empedrados are made by small artisans who have passed down their knowledge through the generations via family schools. The accumulation of expertise is a process of enrichment that makes the empedrados so artistic.

In earlier times under Muslim rule only geometric or vegetable forms were represented. After the arrival of Western culture, the visual range was expanded to represent also animals and people. A recurring element is the pomegranate, the symbol of Granada, as a main motif or as part of a decorative frame.

The Beautiful Details

Empedrados are made with river rocks, rich in quartz and quite impermeable. They are durable, physically and chemically stable, behave well with water and chemical agents, and generate a flat surface that is easy and comfortable to walk on.

To make empedrado, sand and cement are mixed, spread dry, and smoothed where the empedrado will be made. The motif is traced by hand on the smooth surface. The stones are placed by hand. The black stones (“flagstones”) on the edges, ordered into a herringbone pattern. The white ones cover the free space in a random pattern. The herringbone pattern of the black stones is the distinguishing characteristic of empredados granadinos. When the stones are all laid, they are compacted with a piece of wood called a ‘tamper’ to make them all at an even level. The paving is dry-set and a second tamping is carried out.

I love to think of the work that produced each empedrado. The person who made the design, the hands that handled and placed each stone, one by one, with care. It is so delightful of a city to give its citizens and guests such beauty, such pleasure. The pleasure of walking on carpets.

The Big Picture: Streets and Squares

References

http://www.cardenalbelluga.es/milenio1/empedrado.html

https://redmaestros.com/Maestros/juan-antonio-orellana-aguilera/