Secrets of the Alhambra
The bell that kept time for the farmers
The bell of the Torre de la Vela belongs to the period after the Castilian conquest of 1492. For centuries its night-time strokes marked the irrigation turns of the farmers of the Vega of Granada — a civil function, not a Nasrid one.
On site
Where
At the Torre de la Vela, the tall tower at the western end of the Alcazaba, when it is open to visitors.
What to look for
Look for the bell on the top of the tower, then look west over the plain of the Vega: that is the farmland whose irrigation it once regulated.
Visible with general ticket
What the evidence shows
In the Nasrid period the tower was a military watchtower of the Alcazaba; there was no bell. A bell was installed after 1492, and the one that hangs there today dates from the 18th century.
Its strokes at night told the irrigators of the Vega when each turn to open and close the water began and ended. The bell was rung by a resident bell-ringer, an office that continued over generations.
Sources
- Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife. Institutional information on the Torre de la Vela and its bell