Restoration Monuments & historical plasters

Madrasah Palace

Madrasah Palace

The Madrasah Palace, one of the most emblematic buildings of Granada, has its origines in 13th century. Rebuilt in the 16th century into a baroque palace, this former Koran school and later town hall, now belongs to the Universisty of Granada.

In the 2010 restoration intervention, Artisan Stucco was responsible for restoring the plaster from scratch with only the original frescoes conserved.

The base plaster, made of lime putty and local calcium carbonate sands and mixed on site, was applied to regulate all the brick walls in thicknesses that varied from 1 to 5 cm. The base was then covered with a finish consisting of a three layer system fresco plaster made of aged lime putty and different grain sized marble sands.


Project type: Restoration
Location: Granada, Spain
Size: 2.000 m2

Restoration - Madrasah Palace, Praying room and mihrab
Praying room and mihrab - This spectacular 13th century praying room in the Madrasah Palace is the only room conserved from the original building. Too beautiful to be destroyed when it was transformed into a baroque town hall palace, in 17th century. Even the mihrab, that points the direction of La Mecca is conserved. After the carved plaster was completely restored, Raquel restored all the plaster from the walls and the mihrab.
Restoration - Madrasah Palace, Praying room
Praying room - Newly replaced fresco stucco, meeting the original ornamental plasterwork.
Restoration - Madrasah Palace, Stairway and vault
Stairway and vault - Plastering such a large high walls in a single day, respecting the original ornamental plaster of the vaults was a challenging work that needed a good amount of planning and organization.
Restoration - Madrasah Palace, Original fresco detail
Original fresco detail - Some of the original frescos where conserved. To comply with the criteria of the restoration, the entire wall had to be plastered 3 mm under the original surface.
Restoration - Madrasah Palace, Stairway
Stairway - Stairway vault and window.
Restoration - Madrasah Palace, Stairway, arches and patio
Stairway, arches and patio - This overview from the middle of the stairs gives an idea of the complexity of the architecture and dimension of this monument.
Restoration - Madrasah Palace, Gentleman Saloon
Gentleman Saloon - The gentleman saloon (Salón de los caballeros) from 16th century conserves a spectacular polichromatic Mudéjar carpentry ceiling that needed to be carefully protected before the plastering work began.
Restoration - Madrasah Palace, Patio
Patio - View of the patio and ablution pool beneath.

Monuments & historical plasters

Artisan Stucco has extensive knowledge and experience restoring original plasters in historical monuments.

We are experienced with large scale restoration projects and have successfully completed large interventions in famous human heritage buildings.

We only use materials of the highest quality that are perfectly compatible and respectful to the original materials used in the historical building in terms of adherence, breathability and elasticity.

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