Las Médulas

The Las Médulas are located near the Spanish city of Ponferrada, León province, in the autonomous community of Castile -Leon. She was the most important gold mine in the Roman Empire. The cultural landscape of Las Médulas is led by UNESCO since 1997 as a World Heritage Site.

The extraordinary landscape is a result of ruina montium, a Roman mining technology. Pliny the Elder describes them in his Naturalis historia as piercing the mountains and subsequent flooding with large amounts of water. This should have removed the hills, literally. In bringing the required amounts of water from the Sierra de la Cabrera, a more than 100 -kilometer-long canal system was built. Parts of this system are still preserved today.

Description by Pliny the Elder

" The third type ( gold ) to promote exceeds the work of giants. The mountains are hollowed out with passages and tunnels in the light of lamps ... For months, see the miners no sun ... Suddenly, the column collapse and spill the workers, making it less risky appears to bring beads and purple snails from the depths of the sea. How dangerous we have made ​​the earth! "

Pliny also stated that each year 20,000 Roman pounds of gold have been mined. 60,000 free workers were involved in the exploitation, promoted in 250 to 1635 tons daily.