The tomb of “El Gran Capitán”

The monastery of San Jeronimo in Granada was founded by the Catholic Monarchs shortly after the capture of the city in 1492. This would be the place chosen by Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba for his burial.

To build a mausoleum up to the character’s standards was slow, complex and costly. When “El Gran Capitán”, passed away, the church was only in its first stages of construction, facing significant challenges in the years that followed. The transfer of the high altar by the emperor to María Manrique in 1523 reinvigorated the temple’s construction. From that moment on, María Manrique took undertook the immense task of building the church of the monastery of San Jerónimo de Granada, a “Roman style” temple where, at the foot of the main altar, the remains of “El Gran Capitán”,, his own and those of his direct relatives, would be transferred and buried. Upon the death of Maria Manrique, her grandson Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba y Fernandez de Cordoba, will continue and culminate the enterprise initiated by his grandmother.

While the initial funeral rites for “El Gran Capitán”, at the Church of San Francisco Casa Grande were fit for a king, the transfer to San Jerónimo was no less significant. However, what truly mattered for the perpetuation of his memory occurred between 1515 and 1552, during which the magnificent mausoleum was constructed.

The church of the monastery of San Jerónimo is conceived as the tomb of a soldier, as evidenced by the heraldry of the exterior and interior of the temple, as well as the iconography of the vaults of the transept and the main altar.

Inside the church, the elevated layout of the main altar is striking, justified by the planned layout of a large recumbent tomb, where “El Gran Capitán”, should appear wearing his arms and Doña María at his side, crowned as a duchess, a tomb that was never built.

This marble or alabaster tomb in the transept was considered by the duchess as a key element of the mausoleum, to the point of trying, unsuccessfully, to have it sculpted by Michelangelo or Jacopo Sansovino. Today, the crypt where Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba was buried is only marked by a marble slab with the following inscription:

GONZALI FERNANDEZ DE CORDOVA QVI PROPIA VIRTVTE MAGNI DVCIS NOMEN PROPRIVM SIBI FECIT OSSA PERPETVAE TANDEN LVCI RESTITVENDA HVIC INTEREA LOCO CREDITA SVNT. GLORIA MINIME CONSEPVLTA

(The bones of Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba, who with his valor earned the nickname of “El Gran Capitán”, are entrusted to this burial until the restitution of eternal light. His glory in no way is buried with him).