Hammam Al Ándalus Opens Its Flagship Store in Granada

About a century ago, in the summer of 1924, Juan Ramón Jiménez and his wife, Zenobia Camprubí, spent a few weeks in Granada as guests of Federico García Lorca and his family. Those days left a deep impression on Juan Ramón, who, years later, while in exile, would be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Juan Ramón Jiménez and Federico García Lorca, two of the most influential writers in Spanish and world literature, forged an extraordinary bond during those days, one that resonated in the work of both poets. In 1945, when Juan Ramón was already in exile in the United States, he wrote a letter to Isabel García Lorca, Federico’s sister. In one paragraph of that letter, he writes:

“We have never forgotten those days in Granada, when you were such a great support to us, turning your wonderful city into a double paradise for us. When we were in Madrid, we often looked at the photos we took together in so many beautiful places. Days like those are rare in life.”

During esos maravillosos días del verano dIn 1924, Federico García Lorca, his parents, and his siblings Isabelita and Paco shared their favorite spots in Granada with Juan Ramón and his wife, as well as with their closest friends, including Manuel de Falla, Fernando de los Ríos… It is hard to imagine such a convergence of talent, creativity, and art at the same time and in the same place; at the García Lorca home on the Acera del Darro, just a few meters from the El Ladrón de Agua mansion where HAMMAM AL-ÁNDALUS has opened its first flagship store, where EL JARDÍN DE HAMMAM has its most iconic venue, precisely as we mark the centennial of that fateful encounter between the two literary geniuses of our era, Juan Ramón Jiménez and Federico García Lorca.

This new space in Granada perhaps echoes the description offered by Zenobia Camprubí, Juan Ramón Jiménez’s wife, after her stay in Granada:

“I am certain that it has all been a kind of enchantment”

There can be no place where that “enchantment” is more justified. The water, “la sangre de Granada” as Lorca says, is the central theme and guiding thread of this unique space. Juan Ramón Jiménez, during his visit to the Generalife gardens, was struck by the flow of the water, and above all by la escalera del agua which is one of the most iconic spots in the gardens.

Something deeply meaningful remained in the hearts of Juan Ramón, Federico, and the entire García Lorca family: their discovery of Granada and all the symbolism of water that he conveys in his book Olvidos de Granada, In this book, in addition to the famous poem “Generalife,” there is another poem that, because of the mystery it holds, has become a classic, El Ladrón de Agua.

In this poem, water takes on different forms and personalities. There has long been speculation about the meaning of the poem and its title; the most plausible theory is that the “water thief” is a metaphor for the aljibe which collects and stores the water it receives.