Museo Cuevas del Sacromonte

Centro de Interpretación del Valle del Darro

Useful Information

photography — Museo Cuevas del Sacromonte, Andalucia, Spain. Public Domain.

Location:	Barranco de los Negros, s/n, 18010 Granada. 15 minutes walk uphill. Access from C. Verea de Enmedio. (37.183298, -3.583973)
Open:	15-OCT to 14-MAR daily 10-18. 15-MAR to 14-OCT daily 10-20. [2022]
Fee:	Adults EUR 5. Groups (10+): Adults EUR 3. [2022]
Classification:	Flamenco Cave Cave House Écomusée
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Museo Cuevas del Sacromonte, Barranco de los Negros, s/n (acceder por C. Verea de Enmedio), 18010 Granada, Tel: +34-958-21-51-20.
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History

Description

Museo Cuevas del Sacromonte (Sacromonte Caves Museum) is a local history museum or ethnographic museum, which is dedicated to the life on the hillside of Sacromonte, the holy mountain. The area is close to the city center, nevertheless it became the home of the poor. And especially many Roma or gypsy families were living in this quarter. They are known as travelling people, as tinkers, as thieves. Their culture differs from most people living in Europe, and so they were everywhere at the edge of society, no exception here in Grenada. The strong connection to the Roma is the reason why the museum is sometimes called Museo Etnológico de la Mujer Gitana (Ethnological Museum of the Gypsy Woman).

But here they lived rather comfortable in caves, with a fine climate which does not require expensive heating in winter. The caves keep a very comfortable climate all over the year. During the 19th century and even much of the 20th century this was not culturally accepted. Caves were a synonym for slums, and as actually many poor people lived in cave homes, there were numerous location projects. Fortunately this did not happen here at Sacromonte, and so there is not only a lot of people still living in caves, there is the great number of Flamenco caves, and this museum which tells about the origins and the dailylife of cave houses.

The local culture is connected to the development of Flamenco. While it is popular in wide parts of Spain and the population, for the gypsies it has a special status. They even developed their own style called Zambra. The museum has an exhibition on the development of both.

The museum is, of course, located inside a group of ten cave houses, and it's at a rather prominent location, at the highest point of the quarter in the Barranco de los Negros. The ten caves show different stages in the development of cave houses. Utensils of daily life, like lamps, ceramic vessels, stoves and looms, are exhibited. The inhabitants of the caves of Sacromonte were working in basketry, ceramics, metalwork and other crafts. There are also caves for dedicated uses, like living quarters, stables, or kitchens. The first gypsy and Muslim communities inhabit the cave during the 16th century. It can be reached only by walking up, the road is rather narrow. You can walk up from the Zambra María la Canastera, and if you drive up to the upper parking lot of La Chumbera you can reach it also.