History of Alfacar
The first records of Alfacar as a settlement date from the Zirid period (1010-1090). The name Alfacar comes from the Arabic term al-Fajjar, which means mud, clay or pottery. At that time, palaces, mosques, towers and a castle were built in the area of Aynadamar (today's Fuente Grande). Some buildings have survived, such as the Arco de Somera, the baths, the Acequia de Aynadamar and part of the old wall.
In the 14th and 15th centuries, Al-Jatib and Ibn-Battuta mention Alfacar both as a place of leisure and as the scene of conflict during the last years of the Reconquest. Alfacar was one of the last towns to surrender to the Catholic Monarchs. A few days before the fall of the city of Granada, the Capitulation of Alfacar (22nd December 1491 ) was signed by the Catholic Monarchs and the two mayors of the "Towers of Alfacar", which guaranteed the Muslims a series of rights.
Almost a century later, events led to the Alpujarras Rebellion. While in Alfacar there were only peaceful protests in Las Canteras. However, the rebellion led to Felipe II ordering the expulsion of the Moriscos (those Moors who had been forced to convert to Christianity after the Reconquest) from the Kingdom of Granada and the confiscation of all their property in 1570.
In 1898, the Town Hall under Miguel Torres Vílchez, the mayor of Alfacar, bought a clock from the famous Madrid clockmaker Antonio Canseco. The Canseco clock, as it became known, was installed in the tower of the Iglesia de la Asunción, where it still functions today.
In 1980 the Diputation of the province of Granada acquired 9,000 square metres of land on the Torices hill, just outside the village, for the construction of a public park in honour of Federico García Lorca. A few days after the acquisition was announced, it was discovered that a two- metre area around an olive tree had been disturbed. According to almost all those who were later interviewed by the Park Commission, this was the place where the poet had been buried. The Federico García Lorca Park was inaugurated in 1986 by the president of the Diputación, Juan Hurtado Gallardo.
In 2000, the town took over the nearby camp of Alfaguara after 60 years in the hands of other administrations. It is used as a summer camp for young people from the village.
In 2002, the first training centre was opened in Alfacar. It covers an area of 6,000 square metres, houses eight units and teaches more than a hundred students. It is equipped with facilities for teaching, technology, music, art, computer science, laboratories and workshops. It also has a gymnasium, special classrooms and offices for teachers and the association of mothers and fathers of the students.