Local history and culture Guadix

Located on the heights of the hills surrounding the city to the south-east, this original district is similar to a small cave town. A type of habitat made possible by the presence of clayey soil soft enough to be worked "prick, picar" relatively easily to shape your house. And which appeared in the first half of the 16th century as a refuge for the Moorish population. Currently, there are about 2,000 caves inhabited by about 3,000 people throughout the region, making the Guadix caves the most important complex in Europe. In Guadix, the first urban centres were the hill of San Marcos and the fountain of Maese Pedro and today, one of the nerve centres of these caves is the Ermita Nueva, a new hermitage dug into the hill. On site, you can visit the iglesia cueva (plaza del padre poveda, every day from 10am to 2pm) and enjoy the beautiful panoramic views from the Miradors of the Magdalena and the Cerro de la Bala, from where you can see the impressive red silhouette of the Alcazaba, for example.

This museum will be the opportunity to visit Purullena, a city that received the name of cave city in 1960, as for the time, the only existing monument was the church and that all the inhabitants lived in caves. Today, more than 400 families still live there, making it one of the largest concentrations in the Guadix comarca. The circuit is made in three stages corresponding to different times, thus allowing a better perception of the constants and differences in this mode of habitat. First of all, we visit a cave of today, inhabited, to see that we live there as well as in other types of houses, but with a temperature of around 20 degrees in a natural way. We will then move on to a cellar under construction to learn, if we wish, the method of creating it by digging it, picar. Accessible by an inside ladder or a ramp, the second level allows you to discover the oldest cave, dating back more than 300 years and decorated as in the last century. This level also houses the cave-museum displaying old tools, furniture and photos from villages throughout the region. There is also a viewpoint to all the caves of Purrullena, the Alhama-Fardes Valley and the Sierra Nevada.

This centre is structured around three axes of discovery. The first, the house of ploughing, offers a permanent exhibition of furniture and household linen presented in a 17th century cave. The second shows the evolution of cave dwellings from prehistoric times to the present day, through the discovery of caves located on the cliff. With, according to the periods, different uses: necropolis, grain silo, dovecotes, refuge. Finally, the interpretation centre itself has three rooms with archaeological and craft exhibits. And regularly conducts educational workshops on prehistory, ecosystems, the silk cycle, lifestyles... The centre also offers visits to the Mirador Cárcavas del Marchal.