 It was declared a World Heritage Site in 1984, along with the Alhambra.The area that later became the Albayzín was first populated by the Iberians, the original inhabitants of the Iberian peninsula, with dispersed Roman settlements later appearing nearby.Nothing is known of its history before the arrival of the Muslim Berbers, so it is assumed that the city was abandoned after the fall of the Roman Empire until the founding of the Zirid kingdom in 1013, when its defensive walls were built.