Güéjar Sierra is a village and municipality located in the

province of Granada Granada is a province of southern Spain, in the eastern part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by the provinces of Albacete, Murcia, Almería, Jaén, Córdoba, Málaga, and the Mediterranean Sea (along the Costa Tropical ...

, Spain. According to the INE, it had a population of 2,988 at the start of 2010. The village is situated in the north-western part of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, at an altitude of 1,088 metres. The municipality borders Pinos Genil, Dúdar, Quéntar, La Peza, Lugros, Jérez del Marquesado, Trevélez, Capileira and Monachil. Its boundary with

Trevélez Trevélez is a village in the province of Granada, Spain. Its population in 2011 was estimated at 823. The river Trevélez flows through the village. They are located in the western part of the Alpujarras region. Two of the highest mountains in ...

and

Capileira Capileira is the highest and most northerly of the three villages in the gorge of the Poqueira river in the La Alpujarra district of the province of Granada, in Spain. It is located at latitude 36° 57' N and longitude 3° 21' W, about 1 km ...

runs along the highest ridge of the Sierra Nevada, and over Mulhacén, making these the three highest municipalities in

peninsular Spain Peninsular Spain refers to that part of Spanish territory located within the Iberian Peninsula, thus excluding other parts of Spain: the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Ceuta, Melilla, and a number of islets and crags off the coast of Mor ...

. The Genil and Maitena rivers rise in Güéjar.

History

The castle of El Castillejo, the ruins of which can still be seen just above the village, was built by the Romans, but it was the Moors who settled the village after their conquest of Spain in 711, giving it the name of Qaryat Walyar. It remained in Moorish hands until 25 November 1491, when it was taken by Christian forces during the final phase of the

Reconquista The ' ( Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the N ...

. In December 1499 the people of Güéjar took part in a rebellion which had in part been provoked by forced conversions, but they were defeated in January 1500. As a result, 2,500 villagers who had previously been baptized as Christians were taken to Granada and sold as slaves. 1568 saw the start of the

Morisco Revolt Moriscos (, ; pt, mouriscos ; Spanish for "Moorish") were former Muslims and their descendants whom the Roman Catholic church and the Spanish Crown commanded to convert to Christianity or face compulsory exile after Spain outlawed the open p ...

, led by

Aben Humeya Aben Humeya (1520–1569), also known as Muhammad ibn Umayyah ( ar, محمد بن أمية), was a Morisco leader who commanded the Morisco Revolt against Philip II of Spain in the Alpujarras region, near Granada. Early life Aben Humeya was born F ...

, which lasted until 1571, although in Güéjar it was put down in 1569.

Tourism

Güéjar Sierra has a long history as a popular tourist destination. As long ago as the early 1920s the Duke of San Pedro Galatino, owner of the famous Alhambra Palace Hotel in Granada, decided to build a luxurious mountain lodge in the untouched countryside above Güéjar. The hotel, which offered guests all of the comforts of the time, such as electricity, central heating and hot water, was inaugurated on 20 March 1925. The Duke had also long dreamed of constructing a tramline from Granada to just above Güéjar, from where it would only be a short carriage ride to the hotel. By financing almost a third of the cost himself, he was eventually able to get the first section completed in 1925, and extensions were added in 1928 and 1944. The project was an incredible feat of engineering, with 14 tunnels and 21 bridges, but it was never a financial success, and in 1973 it was finally closed down. The hotel was also loss-making, and was donated by the Duke to the

Diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...

of Granada in 1936. Shortly afterwards the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

broke out, and as the front line ran very close to the hotel, it was used as barracks, and was badly damaged as a result. In 1950 it became a

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

. Güéjar Sierra is a main gateway to the northern faces of Mulhacén, Alcazaba and Veleta, and is also the starting point for the Vereda de la Estrella, one of the most famous hikes in the Sierra Nevada. As a result, tourism remains one of the mainstays of the local economy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guejar Sierra Municipalities in the Province of Granada