Centro de recepción de visitantes de las Médulas

"UNESCO World Heritage Looking like giant jagged teeth, the pointed rocky crags of this extraordinary, otherworldly landscape glow hot red as the Spanish sun plays over their clay surfaces. Partly covered with chestnut trees, crisscrossed by countless trails, and hiding a honeycomb of tunnels, caves, lakes, and grottoes, these rocks were once the Roman Empire's greatest gold mine. Today they are both a natural wonder and evidence of the Romans' incredibly advanced engineering prowess. Up to 800 tons of gold were extracted from the area during the first and second centuries C.t., using an ingenious hydraulic system that was a marvel of its time. Roman writer Pliny the Elder described how a ruina montium type of mine was created here, whereby staggering amounts of water from nearby mountains were literally flushed through a complex system of specially bored corridors and galleries in order to make the mountains of Las Médulas collapse and expose their treasure more easily. He tells of huge teams of miners spending months at a time shut away from the sunlight, digging tunnels by lamplight, many perishing along the way. After two centuries of intensive mining, the Romans deserted the site. The natural landscape of Las Médulas may have been ravaged, but the site has been left untouched by industry since the Romans' departure, thus allowing a fascinating insight into their technical ability. Today visitors can walk the many paths and see spectacular caves and grottoes where gold was collected, as well as galleries bearing the marks of miners from thousands of years ago and the remains of villages from this mining age. The nearby Orellan viewpoint provides extraordinary vistas of the landscape. In 1997 UNESCO gave Las Médulas a listing as a uniquely well-preserved showcase for Roman technology."