On Mount Valparaíso, at the end of the Sacromonte district, is one of Granada’s least famous monuments: the Abbey of the Sacromonte. This important religious complex was built on the site where the remains of the martyr St. Caecilius, a key figure in the history of Granada, were found.
In 1954, excavations in some ancient Roman ovens on Mount Valparaíso unearthed the remains of the city’s patron saint, St. Caecilius. The discovery provoked a veritable wave of pilgrimage, and there were thousands of Granadans who traveled to the excavation site to venerate the first bishop of Roman times.
Because of the continuous flow of pilgrims, therefore, it was decided to build an abbey over the saint’s remains to preserve them. Later, silver plates engraved in Arabic, known as plumbei books, were also found.
Thus it was that construction work on the abbey began.
One of the most interesting parts of visiting Sacromonte Abbey is to delve into the Holy Caves, where the saint’s remains and the plumbei books were found. It is an underground route through various corridors leading to the different chapels, an altar and the cave where the martyr’s remains were found.
