Guadix

Barrio de Santiago: cave dwellings

Guadix, town, Granada provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Andalusia, southern Spain, northeast of Granada city. The town originated as the Acci of the Romans; its present name was corrupted from the Arabic Wādī-Ash (“River of Life”). Outstanding landmarks include the Moorish Alcazaba (fortress); the 18th-century Renaissance and Baroque cathedral built on the site of an old mosque; and the Barrio de Santiago, an adjacent locality famous for its inhabited caves excavated in the mountainsides. The economy is mainly agricultural, based chiefly on wheat, olives, flax, and hemp. Vegetables and potatoes are cultivated in the surrounding river valleys. Tourism and the production of building materials have grown in importance. Pop. (2007 est.) mun., 20,307.