The old Minas de Riotinto locomotives
The old Minas de Riotinto locomotives

The old Minas de Riotinto locomotives

The old Minas de Riotinto locomotives

Martian landscape in the heart of Spain

Minas de Riotinto, Spain

We are talking about over 5000 years of mining history in this area. The landscape has been changed forever, and it looks at some places like a alien planet where red, yellow, purple mingle with green, gray and ocher.

The ten abandoned trains account that the site today are only a small part of this industrial landscape that has been suddenly stopped in 1974. At its peak, there was more than 150 trains who were traversing the long and winding road which stretched over 84 km. Each train had between 20 and 50 cars full of pyrite.

The mine located in the town of Minas de Riotinto, as we know it today, began operating in 1875 and stopped almost 100 years later. Today, if the plant is closed, a museum exists on the site.

Related content

The old abandoned monastery

The monastery was built at the beginning of the 20th century. Situated on a mountainside so as to offer occupants a breathtaking view of the area that extends to their feet, the site is still 100 years later of great beauty. Three floors high,...

The abandoned Bilbao plant
Bilbao, Vizcaya (Spain)

In the Basque Country there are several generations who have grown up by drinking milk from the Beyena company, a regional source of pride, well beyond its nutritional values. Every day, hundreds of trucks were leaving the factory located in...

Façade under a grey sky
Montréal, Quebec (Canada)

Hochelaga-Maisonneuve has been deeply marked by the train, in its development. Even today, it is surrounded by three tracks : the Canadian Pacific to the west, the now abandoned Canadian National to the east and the one of the port of Montreal to...

The abandoned paper mill
Outaouais, Quebec (Canada)

This is one of the oldest stationery in Quebec. Founded in 1851 by a american businessman, the company is composed of a half-dozen buildings on a fifteen hectares site. Saying that the site is large is an understatement, not only because it has a...