Los Ginkgos de la Gran Vía
Around Columbus statue, in Isabella the Catholic square, groups of people gather every day to take pictures of themselves at the foot of the sculpture. Few places like this symbolise the impulse that led to a radical transformation in the world known so far. In Granada, the conditions were created, partly by chance, that would open a decisive stage for humanity.
With the fascination that causes this piece of History, enclosed right in the city centre, no one seems to look back nor to notice the Gran Via, that modernist avenue that was built with the profits that were generated with the sugar beet fields on the coast, in the years after the war of Cuba, at the beginning of the twentieth century. A back-and-forth story.
If we compare them with the countless milestones that this city has had from the Arabic Granada to the Baroque one, going through the Renaissance, modernist, literary and artistic ones (in painting, sculpture, flamenco, dancing, music), the ginkgoes in Gran Via, planted some years ago due to the remodelling of the pavements and lighting, seem like they are very little.
But these millennial trees that inspired Goethe, with their leaves brought from Orient, have given a new light to a hundred-year-old avenue, marking the seasons, from the buds of Spring to the desolated branches of Winter, through the ochre colour of Autumn. They celebrate that which nature has of art and of inspiration for art, which is a recreation of life.
If you are one of those people who are taking pictures of the monument of Columbus, and, when you finish, you turn around a moment and look at Gran Via, perhaps you will feel like walking a few steps that way. To the left you will soon see the Capilla Real (but, before, to the right, do not miss an ice cream in Los Italianos, you will appreciate it). A little further, also to the left, a part of the Cathedral is visible.
If you go on walking, you will find, to the right, the old building of the Bank of Spain, today headquarters of the Andalusian Public Prosecutor’s Office. Finally, at the fifth cross street from Isabella the Catholic square, you will be able to find Galeria Ginkgo.