Sacromonte Exodus from Granada
Origins of flamenco and its styles
February 28, 2018
The bailaora 'Mariquilla' in Casa Ana.
December 14, 2021We know more about the origins of the Sacromonte of Granada.
"It was like when a tree is uprooted from its place and taken to another place, it never blooms the same again." Curro Albaicín.
The beautiful neighborhood of Sacromonte in Granada is highly frequented by the most varied tourists from all over the world who go in search of those gypsy settlements on the banks of the Darro River, and that few know that they have their origin in those Jews and Muslims expelled from Granada once the Catholic Monarchs arrived in the conquest of Granada. A neighborhood where cave dwellings are so common that the landscape has practically merged with nature, creating a unique setting.
It was at the beginning of the 1960s, specifically in 1963, when there were heavy rains in the area that affected the structures of these dwellings dug into the rock itself.
The unexpected and torrential rains, which lasted for months, not only destroyed many of these humble homes, but also caused the death of some people, including the legendary guitarist Antonio Maldonado and his young son, only three years old. In addition, in nearby neighborhoods with modest houses, there was also damage to the foundations and weak roofs.
"Many families lost their homes or were forced to abandon them due to risk of collapse."
The rains were so repeated and for so many months that the rivers in the area saw how the flow of water increased considerably, taking with it bridges, collapsing walls, fences and walls, the Genil river was blocked and the caves of Sacromonte were again affected. Many roads were interrupted, as well as the railway and telephone lines, still precarious at that time. The crops of the Vega de Granada were also heavily affected and even towns as close to the capital, such as Pinos Puente or Atarfe, were completely cut off.
This chaos brought with it, as we have already mentioned, not only the loss of human lives, but immeasurable material damage, for which a large number of families had to flee, leaving behind their collapsed homes or at risk of collapse and seek refuge in makeshift barracks and shelters with dire conditions of habitability. Subsequently and directed by Sergeant Colomera, some land was purchased in the Huerta de la Virgencica, where in a short time the works would begin to build modules to serve as housing for all these victims and to be rehoused again in better conditions, although this time, they did not meet the best requirements even in the case of being a temporary solution.
There were more than twenty thousand homeless people in the city when Franco came to Granada.
More than twenty thousand people in the city were homeless when Francisco Franco arrived in Granada. And in his visit to the caves of Sacromonte, the General himself was astonished with the aspect that the neighborhood had taken. An aspect of absolute devastation, sad and desolate where hundreds of caves were totally destroyed or buried, and where there were still some people who refused to leave their homes even when they were practically destroyed.
After this disaster, few families ventured to return to such a unique enclave in Granada and many of them migrated to new emerging areas in the north of the city. This meant to some extent a loss of identity of the Sacromonte neighborhood, a neighborhood that, today, is gradually recovering the essence of its past but that cannot forget such a dramatic outcome. It is "as if they uproot a tree and take it to another place, it will never blossom the same again", in the words of Curro Albaicín.
This magnificent documentary is a collection of the experiences lived by several families from the Sacromonte caves.
