At the height of splendour the Albaycin enjoyed in the last years of Nazarid dominance, the quarter comprised a population of more than forty thousand inhabitants and thirty mosques. The streets were very narrow and small with clean houses, plus numerous wells, some of which are still in the Albaycin.
With the reconquest, the Albaycin was left for Muslims as their own place of residence. But soon the population dwindled.
The constant revolts forced the monarchs to expel the Arabs who were practising Muslim. The mosques were demolished and on the same sites churches were raised.