13/09/2013

Old Industrial - Mining site - Peñarroya, Andalucia, Spain

Old industrial site, that many local and Regional stakeholders, have real interest for its conservation. Many visitors take tour on the industrial archaeological heritage site.


The main town of Alto Guadiato, Peñarroya was previously a wealthy coal mining town which is now in a state of decay since its coal mines have been depleted by a French mining company. The town of 13000 people is not especially attractive, there is an abundance of abandoned buildings, relics from a time when industry was thriving and a layer of soot covers many of the buildings, including the neo-gothic brick parish church. Peñarroya is reminiscent of a northern European industrial town, placed in the unusual setting of southern Spain. The Festival de Cante de las Minas, the singing miners, is held here. Just south of the town, the reservoir of Sierra Boyera runs from Peñarroya down to Belmez. Peñarroya is situated on the main N432 road, 79km from Cordoba. The industrial goods rail line that cuts through Alto Guadiato passes through the industrial area to the south of the town.



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"Alto Guadiato Mining District (38" 18' E 1 5" 16' W) Belmez, Espiel, Pefiarroya- Pueblonuevo) (CORDOBA).
The Belmez, Espiel, Pozoblanco and Peiiarroya-Pueblonuevo mining basin yields coal- rich carbonated deposits. The mining of copper pyrite and lead-rich galena also became very important. There is documented evidence of prehistoric Copper Age mining activity in Cordoba but it was truly developed during the Roman times as shown by the advanced Arquimedes screw technology at the "Santa Barbara" lead mine in Posadas (Cordoba). The first documented industrial complex was built adjacent to Pueblonuevo del Terrible In the district of Pedroches and Guadiato in 1875 by the coal company Hullera Belmezana which at that time was working intensely and exporting its products by rail between Belmez and el Castillo de Almorchon once the rail connection between Belmez and Cordoba had been completed.

In 1881 in Paris a group of entrepreneurs created a company called Sociedad Minera y Metalurgica de Pefiarroya to support Hullera Belmezana. This company was destined to become one of the most dynamic of all of the foreign companies operating in Andalusia at the end of the lgth century; by 1914, the powerful Penarroya industrial complex had become one of Spain's most important industrial centres.

Underground and open-pit mining have left important heritage in the form of shafts and galleries as well as headframes, pump houses and ore washing tanks. Of the industrial buildings, special mention should be made of the Precious Metal Foundry of 1891, the Central Warehouse of 1910, the Nordon Warehouse, Coke Ovens and Power Plant of 1918, the railway station and a wide array of lesser installations such as pipelines, workshops, substations and smokestacks making the Peiiarroya Industrial Park one of the country's most important archaeological-industrial complexes. In 1927 the towns of Peiiarroya and Pueblonuevo were united forming the municipality as it is known today where French colonial influence is plain to see in the architecture and urban planning scheme. The same is true of the so-called Barrio Frances (French Quarter) where the homes of SMMP executives were located. The administrative headquarters of the SMMP was designed in 191 1. The Social Centre for SMMP executives, the market, hospital and French school are all examples of urban planning and architecture reminiscent of the French tradition. The mining railway system was very well developed along the Almorchon-Belmez (MZA), Cordoba-Belmez (Ferrocarriles Andaluces) and Pefiarroya- Puertollano lines."

Information -source from: http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5139/
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All photos were taken by S. Michalopoulos ©All Rights Reserved











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