Granada´s longest-running family business?

It may seem incredible in this day and age that there are businesses and families in Granada which can trace their roots back to a time when the Moors still reigned in this, the last kingdom to fall to the Christian re-conquest. But this is the case of the Morales family, present-day owners of the Fajalauza ceramics factory. Our Ceramics Stroll & Factory Visit takes us to the factory to find out more.

In the days of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada, production of ceramics was concentrated in the Fajalauza ("almond groves") district, just outside the city gate of the same name. Following the "Reconquest" of Granada, and the growing demands of Cardinal Cisneros that the Muslim population be forcibly converted to Christianity, businessmen were threatened with seizure of their property if they did not submit to baptism. The owner of the principal Fajalauza factory yielded to this pressure, choosing as his Christian name "Alonso de Morales".

Since then and to this day the Fajalauza factory has remained in the hands of the Morales family - and on the very same site as in Moorish times - making it possibly unique in the world for such longevity and continuity. Its style of pottery, known since the 17th century simply as "Fajalauza", can be found in museums throughout the world and is still widely commercialised. In essence this style maintains the designs and is based on the techniques invented in Moorish Spain and exported throughout the Mediterranean world in the early middle ages. As well as beautiful azulejos (tiles) based on designs found in Granada's famous Alhambra palaces, the factory also produces vases, plates, bowls and jars decorated in the typical granadino colours of blue, green and purple, with motifs of birds, branches, flowers and – the emblem of the city - the pomegranate.

In short, where better to learn about Granada's rich tradition in ceramics?