The Palms of the Archbishop's Palace

Four Mexican fan palms tower over Plaza de Gracia, planted in 1923 to mark the completion of the Archbishop's Palace that still faces them across the square, a building whose own main facades otherwise look toward the cathedral rather than this quieter plaza behind it. Washingtonia robusta grows faster and taller than almost any other palm cultivated in southern Spain, capable of clearing 30 metres given a century, and this quartet has had almost exactly that long: over 100 years of growth in one of Granada's older civic squares, planted deliberately rather than surviving by accident, the way many of the city's oldest trees have. The species takes its genus name from Washington and its specific name from its robust trunk, an American import that became fashionable across southern European cities in the early 20th century for exactly the effect it produces here, four columns of green rising well above the surrounding rooftops, visible long before the palace itself comes into view.