Logbook · 20 places

Mercury Mines of Almadén

Almadén, Valle de Alcudia, Ciudad Real

1 Villages · 8 Monuments · 1 Nature · 2 Activities · 1 Curiosities · 7 Historical milestones

Spain › Castilla-La Mancha › Ciudad Real › Valle de Alcudia › Almadén › Mercury Mines of Almadén

Mercury Mines of Almadén

Monument · Almadén, Valle de Alcudia, Ciudad Real

The largest mercury mines in the world, worked from Roman times until 2003: as early as the days of Strabo, Vitruvius and Pliny, the cinnabar of Almadén was documented. The place name comes from the Arabic al-maʿdin, "the mine". Its management was in the hands of a state body from 1918 and, from 1982, of the public company Minas de Almadén y Arrayanes, which also administered until 1971 the Arrayanes mine, in the Linares mining district. The definitive halt of activity came on 23 July 2003, after years of crisis in the mercury market. In 2012 UNESCO listed them as a World Heritage Site together with those of Idrija (Slovenia) under the name Heritage of Mercury.

Photo: Rafael Tello (CC BY-SA 4.0)

What to see and do in Almadén