HISTORY OF MACAEL
Macael marble has been used throughout history, from Phoenician coffins to the pavilions of the Universal Exhibition of Seville in 1992. Although the use of its marble dates back to ancient times, we can only track the history Macael as a municipality as far back as the tenth and eleventh centuries, during the Al-Andalus period. The original nucleus of this population was 2.5km south of the current town, in the so-called “Macael Viejo” . This place has been developed as a quarry, which is why the remains of this settlement have not been properly preserved.
As early as in the tenth and eleventh centuries, marble was extracted for the Alcazaba of Almería, during the reign of Almotacin. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, local marbles were used in the construction of the Alhambra in Granada. With the Christian Re-conquest at the end of the fifteenth century, Macael surrendered to the Catholic Monarchs with the Capitulations of Baza in 1489. In 1501, by a Royal Certificate, Baza was granted the privilege of annexing the town of Macael. In 1521, the marbles of the Royal Chapel of the Catholic Monarchs in Granada were extracted.
During the Alpujarras War (1568-1570), Macael was involved in the conflict. A lieutenant of Aben Humeya, El Lale, was a Macael sheriff who descended from the Granada aristocracy. At first, the rebellion was stifled in this area by the Marquis de los Vélez, before the arrival of Don Juan de Austria. The original inhabitants of Macael were expelled from the Kingdom of Granada during the War and the town was repopulated with families from Levante and Castilla-La Mancha. In 1581, marbles were commissioned for the El Escorial Monastery.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there was a gradual population increase. The quarries continued to be exploited; pieces were commissioned in 1655 to tile the Jaén Cathedral, and in 1792 for the Royal Palace.
The exploitation of Macael’s quarries was even more important in the nineteenth century, with the industrialization and mechanization of the entire extraction process, tiling, sawing and polishing. Railroads further expanded the market, and the marble came to be used not only for the construction of monuments, but also in private homes and for furniture and various tools.
At present, thanks to the unified efforts of various administrations, this sector has not stagnated and remains competitive with other countries. The Andalusian Stone Technology Centre has also been established for testing, analysis, quality control, advice, technological development, etc. at the regional level.