Sacromonte

El Sacromonte is world famous for its gypsy caves. Since the 19th century, visitors from the north have made the pilgrimage to see the zambras gitanas, passionate performances of song and dance. Most of the gypsies were moved to low-income housing projects in the outskirts of Granada some 40 years ago, after a torrential rainfall washed out many of the caves. Since then, the Sacromonte has become the center for flamenco cabarets catering to the tourist crownd, and most of its caves have been taken over and rehabilitated by foreigners and artists. The Sacromonte is a area of caves next to the Albaicín which is the old Arabic quarter of Granada. To the right of the Albayzín is a large hill which forms the neighbourhood of the Sacromonte. For many centuries it has been populated by the gypsy community. The rock structure in this area is a mixture of clay and round pebbles which are soft enough to excavate and cohesive and stable enough to form the walls of a cave. Consequently most of the dwellings in this area are caves. The mixture of Arabic influences combined with many centuries of gypsy influence eventually created flamenco.