Granada Sacromonte

At the end of the route, through the neighborhood and at the top of Mount Valparaiso is the Abbey of Sacromonte and the College, founded in the 17th century by the then Archbishop of Granada, Pedro de Castro.

Part of the school was destroyed in a fire but the Abbey is still visitable. The Abbey has a large library with about 25,000 books. The Abbey consists of a central courtyard with a fountain and 25 arches with the coat of the founder.

The museum has very valuable pieces, such as the Virgen de la Rosa and three Inmaculadas. The church, built in the early 17th century, has good seating and baroque altarpieces.

The sacristy is decorated with small paintings of the Italian school and a table decorated with motifs made by the Indians in the 16th century in Peru, which was a gift from the father of Archbishop Pedro de Castro who was viceroy of Peru.

The Sacromonte is famous for being the old quarter of the Roma, so-called Egyptian tribes known as the Gypsies of the era of the Catholic Monarchs who settled in Granada after the conquest of the city.

They had a different way of life, a different language (the calo), feasts, and dances, and they built their homes in caves, which increased their reputation among the Romantic writers, so that over time the neighborhood became one of the most important tourist attractions the city.