With the Tejeda Mountain range to the south, the Pera Mountain range to the north and only 24 kilometres away from Granada, is an exceptional place to enjoy nature, with its fields of cereal and olive grove and its Mediterranean forest. It was one of the main farmhouses that formed the old region of the Quempe and that, according to chronicles of Perez del Pulgar,”were all destroyed” during the Castilian conquer. It was Escúzar (Askudar at Nasrid time), whose vestiges are in a hill located to the south of the present town, in the spurs of the Pera Mountain range.
According to the archaeological evidences found, the first settlers of the area in which it is based, Escúzar go back to Roman time. The first written news about this settlement are from the Arab period, when it was born like cortijo located in the route of work houses that went from Granada to Alhama of Granada. During the Reconquista carried out by the Catholic Kings it suffered the consequences of the war. In 1568 the revolt of the Moorish in the Kingdom of Granada took place. The rebellion was repressed and the consequent expulsion of the Moorish of all the towns would leave Escúzar, according to the Real Census of 1594, with only 5 citizens.
It was built, with the name of Santa Maria de Escúzar, as great cortijada by the Castilian settlers who arrived in the XVII century. In those years the more important economic activity was the dry land agriculture. Its population was growing and its primitive temple restored and extended.
In 1990 a plant of Celestine treatment was inaugurated in this town, a mineral used in the manufacture of cathode tubes for television sets, computer screens, optical fibre and other special glasses.
The olive grove and the cereals are the main cultivations of this town. Among its dishes they have salads, migas, chicken, soups of maimones and rolls. As dessert the milk rice and the eggs a la nieve stand out, as well as the typical gazpacho escuceño, that introduces like variant the toasted bread.
© Patronato Provincial de Turismo de Granada I Diputación de Granada
