Riotinto Mines, in the northern part of the province of Huelva, about 70 kilometers from the capital, is one of the most productive and ancient mining districts in the world and its charm is decidedly extraterrestrial. To visit the Riotinto Mining Park, which will take you through 3 thousand years of history of mining and metallurgy, from the Phoenicians to 1950, you can make various excursions.
Il museum is located in the old hospital of the Compañía de Riotinto, the company that exploited the deposits from 1873 to 1954. The building, a Victorian-style house, is the first museum of its kind in Spain and offers a route through the different stages of the exploitation of the deposits in the area, reproduces a Roman mine and hosted countless pieces related to mining activities and objects of industrial archeology such as the vagone del Maharajah, the world's most luxurious narrow-track wagon, built specifically for Queen Victoria's never-completed trip to India.
House 21, in the Bellavista neighborhood, is one of the Victorian houses that the mining company built for its British workers and is now perfectly preserved and open to the public. There Iron Crag is one of the most beautiful places in the Region, and visitors, accompanied by specialized guides, can admire magnificent landscapes, visit an authentic underground tunnel 200 meters long, find the headwaters of the Rio Tinto and learn about the place where NASA conducted research for the MARS project.
Of the 300 kilometers of mining railways built between 1873 and 1984, some have been recovered 12 passable thanks to the 2 restored locomotives and wagons.
You can reach Minas de Riotinto by bus from Huelva, 1h30, and from Siviglia (Plaza de Armas), 1h45.
