Monumento a Fray Luis de Granada

The statue of Fray Luis de Granada is located in the Realejo district, on the Plaza de Santo Domingo, in front of the church of the same name and near the Cuarto Real de Santo Domingo.

The work was created in 1910 by the sculptor Pablo Loyzaga . The statue of Fray Luis de Granada is made of bronze and follows a traditional approach: he stands in the characteristic tunic of the Dominican Order, with his hands facing forward, the left hand on the right. It is placed on a stone plinth with his name and dates of birth and death. The architect Castillo Moreno was commissioned to build a gate around the statue , but it never materialized.

The statue of Fray Luis de Granada originally stood in the Plaza Bib-Rambla and remained there until 1940, when it was moved to the atrium of the Church of Santo Domingo with the city reform of Gallego Burín. In its place was placed the Fountain of the Giants, also known as the Fountain of Neptune.

Luis de Sarriá, known as Fray Luis De Granada, was born in Granada in 1504 , on Calle Santiago. He grew up in the Alhambra, under the protection of the Mendoza family, Counts of Tendilla. At the age of nineteen he entered the Dominicans , where he changed his name and received a theological education, excelling as a preacher.

He attended several colleges and ran afoul of the Inquisition because of the reformist nature of some of his works. In 1551 he went to Évora (Portugal) where he helped found the Society of Jesus. He was the confessor of kings and lived there until his death in 1581.

He was an excellent orator and prose writer in Latin, Castilian and Portuguese. His works include the Book of Prayer and Meditation, the Guide for Sinners, and the Memorial of the Christian Life. He was beatified in 1997.

Willem Vandenameele