The medieval fortress town of Granadilla is a ghost town. Visitors can peer into the empty rooms, walk through its walled streets and see the town from the top of its castle. But no one lives there. Not since all the residents were kicked out in the 1960s.
Founded by Muslims in the 9th century, Granadilla, located in the province of Cáceres, in western Spain and bordering Portugal, occupied a strategic location and allowed its occupants to monitor the Ruta de la Plata, an ancient trade and travel route which crossed, from north to south, part of what are now the regions of Andalusia, Extremadura, Castilla y León and Asturias.
Over the years, the city’s domain changed hands, and today it is one of the few Spanish fortress towns where the old walls are still intact. But the community that lived there until well past the middle of the 20th century is gone.
The end began in the 1950s, during the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, when Spain embarked on a massive project to build dams as a way to boost the economy during the period of isolation.
One of these efforts was the Gabriel y Galán reservoir, on the Alagón River. In 1955 the authorities decreed that Granadilla was in the plain that was going to be flooded by the work; and therefore had to be evacuated.
forced move
Over the course of 10 years, from 1959 to 1969, the 1,000 residents were forcibly evicted, many of them relocated to colonization settlements near the town.
When the water began to rise in 1963, it covered all but one of the access routes to the town, turning it into a peninsula. But that’s as far as the water went: the town itself was never flooded. However, the residents were not allowed to return.
The experience was traumatic for residents, many of whom still carry their frustration. “It was a parody,” says Eugenio Jiménez, president of the Children of Granadilla Association.
“They kicked us out claiming that the dam was going to flood the town, which was impossible, because the town is higher than the dam. But it was a time of dictatorship and we had no rights. But what really frustrates me is that in democratic times I have been fighting for the recovery of Granadilla with the old children’s association, and no government has listened to us,” he lamented.
Purificación Jiménez, a former resident, also recalled the difficulty of those years. “I remember every time a family left town, everyone would come out to say goodbye and cry,” she said.
Even today, the former inhabitants of the town cannot recover their houses, because the government upholds the flood decree signed by Franco. However, visitors can and do come for the day.
The town was designated a Historic-Artistic Site in 1980 and now functions as a free open-air museum (supervised by the Autonomous Organism for National Parks).
As for the inhabitants, they and their descendants meet twice a year in Granadilla, on All Saints’ Day (November 1) and on the day of the Assumption of Mary (August 15).
This story was originally published on BBC Travel. Read the article in English here.
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BBC-NEWS-SRC: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/vert-tra-62566718, IMPORTING DATE: 2022-08-21 07:00:06
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