Alhama de Granada

Historia

Alhama de Granada is a town in the province of Granada, approx. 50 km from the city of Granada. The name is derived from the thermal baths located there, which are called الـحَـمّـة al-hammah in Arabic.In 1482, the fortress town was taken from the Moorish Sultanate and Kingdom of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs.Alhama’s position between Málaga and Granada gave it strategic importance for the Moors but they also had a particular fondness for the town and its thermal waters. The cry of sorrow, ¡Ay de mi Alhama!, uttered by Abu Al-Hacen following the battle of 1482 when the town was lost to the Catholic conquerors, entered the Spanish language as an exclamation of regret. The story of the fall of Alhama and the subsequent slaughter of its inhabitants by the Christian knights is referred to in Tariq Ali's, The Islam Quintet in the first book Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree."At a convenient distance from the town centre, nestling in a poplar grove lining down the banks of the river (also known as Merchan), you will find a hot springs. Prehistoric remains found in the neighbourhood show the antiquity of the human settlements.There is also clear evidence of the way Romans used the waters. In the 15th century, the Arabs consolidated the town next to these hot springs and it was believed that they built the thermal baths there, but the real origin of those baths is Roman as is proved in the book by Salvador Raya Retamero, a local historian, in his book Reseña histórica de los baños termales de la muy noble y leal ciudad de Alhama de Granada ("Brief history of the hot springs of the most noble and loyal city of Alhama de Granada"). A short interview with the author explains the details. The strategic influence of Alhama de Granada made the fall, in 1492, of the Arab empire vital for the conquest of the Kingdom of Granada, which led to the beginning of a flourishing age, because of the patronage of the Catholic Monarchs. The bath house in the Almohade style of the 12th century that is preserved in the spa is a good example of Arab bath construction.