The golden age left in Linares a particular and brilliant architecture, linked to industry, the bourgeois and proletarian society. Linares took advantage of its periods of economic prosperity to build up civil buildings which reflected the aesthetic elements that were found in the great European capitals. The neogothic Marquises of Linares’ Hospital, the modernist Old Market or the neomudéjar Madrid Railway Station are great examples of it. In the same way, the details that evoke the mining past of this city are totally integrated in its urban landscape. Its impressing headframes can be found in many streets of Linares, which at the end of the 19th century became the first worldwide lead manufacturer. The arrival of the railway and the tram as new means of transport for goods and people is another novelty of that period, from which it is known the saying: “Linares is no longer Linares, it is the second Madrid. Who hasn’t seen the railway passing by Linares?”
The ideal complement of this urban Mining Route would be one through the different signalled tracks of mines and shafts. You can ask in “El Pósito” Tourist Office (Iglesia, 5) for your audio guide to complete your route in a unique and fascinating way, with historic characters that will transport you to the mining golden age of this city.
1. Mining Interpretation Centre
This centre is located in the loading zone of the Madrid Railway Station and it hosts a permanent mining exhibition, in which, through 5 rooms, visitors can learn about the different processes of extraction of the mineral. They can also learn about aspects such as the development of the city and the mining society in the scope of the Mining District of Linares-La Carolina.
Paseo de Linarejos, s/n. Tlf. (+34) 953 60 78 12.
Opening hours:
Winter:
Tuesday to Sunday: 10:00 – 13:30
Fridays and Saturdays: 16:30 – 19:30
Mondays: closed
Summer:
Tuesday to Sunday: 10:00 – 13:30
Fridays and Saturdays: 17:30 – 20:30
Mondays: closed
Extra information: here.
2. Madrid Railway Station
Madrid Railway Station is located in one side of Linarejos Esplanade due to the necessity of transporting the lead extracted from the mines of the city. This building has two floors with neomudéjar remains and modernist innovations. Its façade, made of stone and red bricks, reproduces an inverted railway carriage. It currently houses the Plenary Hall and the municipal offices of the Social Welfare, Health Welfare and Consumption Department.
3. Linarejos Esplanade
Linarejos Esplanade summarises the essence of the romantic and bourgeois city. As part of the 19th century legacy, the esplanade links the chapel of the Virgin of Linarejos, patron saint of Linares, and the Constitution fountain, with a slender statue of a woman who symbolises Peace. On both sides of the esplanade, in the shade of palm trees, we find a series of benches made of artistic glazed tiles which represents Linares’ memory through old images which narrate its history, characters, customs and traditions.
4. Spanish Bank of Credit
It is a historicist building made of sandstone. It presides one of the flanks located in the Constitution Square, near St Margarita’s Gardens. It recalls the first branch office of the Spanish Bank of Credit (Banesto), originally built in Calatrava Street (1908), close to its actual location.
5. Bank of Spain
It is a building of large dimensions located in the high part of the Corredera de St Marcos. It is built as a branch office of the Bank of Spain due to the great importance that the mining industry acquired in the city. Currently renovated, it is the office of the Cultural Centre, where the Municipal Archive and the Library can be found.
6. Royal House of Ammunition and Mint
It was built in the last third of the 18th century. The Royal House of Ammunition –currently the Tax Office– is located opposite to the City Hall and the square, in an intersection of commercial streets.
This building, made of stone and based on classic architecture, was erected due to Carlos III’s request to manage the mine of Arrayanes. From the House of Ammunition, according to the written documents that are still conserved, large amount of ammunition came out in order to supply the Spanish Army for centuries.
Its façade maintains some gothic dockyards, coat of arms of the institution and a mosaic of St Bárbara, patron saint of the miners. A sundial can also be found indoors.
7. Santiago Old Market
It is a building erected during the first decade of the 20th century. Francisco de Paula Casado y Gómez, council architect of Linares, designed the building in accordance with the style of the era. You can appreciate the combination of materials such as sandstone and brick. The result is an eclectic building with mudéjar remains.
8. The Statue of the Miner
The statue is a national tribute to miners and it constitutes the first statue built in honour of that hard profession in Spain. It is located in the Hannibal and Himilce Square. This statue was designed by Víctor de los Ríos and later renovated by Alfonso González Palau, an artist from Linares.
De los Ríos idealised the miner in his statue, sculpted throughout 1968. It is a muscly man, with a brave bearing, his chest naked and with a helmet on his head. In one of his hands, he holds a mining drill with which the sheet walls were perforated; and in the other one, a lamp which lighted him on the loneliness of the galleries.
9. Matacabras Headframe
The headframe is a monument in honour of the miners that sacrificed his health and even his life extracting the lead from the subsoil in order to make the dream of a city come true.
It is located in the roundabout of the entrance of Los Jarales industrial estate. It is an impressive metallic statue which is surrounded by several carriages full of stones, which simulate the minerals that were extracted from the Matacabras mine.
10. El Pósito
This building was built during the second half of the 18th century as a granary for the then borough of Linares. Transformed several years later into a prison, in 1975 it became a special education school. Today, the old Pósito has been transformed into a cultural and touristic space. This Interpretation Centre hosts indoors the most brilliant pages of the local history, its urban evolution and its art and culture, where bullfighting and flamenco have a special place.
El Pósito also houses the Raphael Museum, a universal singer from Linares, the Tourist Office, a souvenir shop, the Documentation Centre of Linares, a temporary room for exhibitions and the local Auditorium, which hosts all type of congresses and events.
El Pósito de Linares, Iglesia, 5. | Telf. (+34) 953 10 01 83
Opening hours:
Winter:
Wednesday to Sunday: 10:00 – 14:00 and 17:00 – 19:00
Summer:
Wednesday to Sunday: 10:00 – 14:00 and 18:00 – 20:00
Extra information here.
11. Alfonso XII Square
The Plaza Nueva also known as Alfonso XII square is located close to the plaza del Gallo. When the City Council decided to build this garden square, the mining and industrial development led to the establishment of the first British consulate close to it, with Thomas Sopwith as its leader (1872). Some of these British community members, who were working here, decided to build a statue in 1890. It is a farming allegory by an unknown author.
12. Peritos Headframe
It comes from the number 1 shaft of the company Empresa Nacional de Adaro (E.N.A.) Filón de El Cobre. After the Second World War, the E.N.A. founded a colony inside the Cañada Incosa area, quite close to La Tortilla Foundry. Adaro has one of our most remarkable ethnological emblems: Adaro’s sanctuary, decorated with frescos by the distinguished painter from Linares, Francisco Baños.
13. Colón Square
As a result of the enlargement that took place in Linares at the end of the 19th century, this square was designed by the architect Félix Hernández in the 20th century. Its bucolical and romantic character (benches made of sandstone and a Parisian-style fountain) turns this space into an attractive leisure time place for all ages.
14. Almería Railway Station
It is an emblematic eclectic building erected between the 19th and 20th centuries. In May 1889, the Catalonian financer Ivo Bosch Puig, representing the General Bank of Madrid, got in charge of the concession to build and exploit a railway between Linares and Almería. The main aim was to transport the lead obtained in these mining enclaves to Almería’s port. In order to use it, the company “Compañía de los Caminos de Hierro del Sur de España” was founded. For this reason, this building is also known as the South Railway Station. Of public property, it ceased working in 1961.
15. La Constancia Foundry
The factory of metal structures La Constancia was founded in Linares in 1870 by the Caro brothers for the manufacturing of all kinds of constructions related to mining, agriculture and railway. Its consolidation and growth were fast and by the end of the 19th century it was one of the most important metal companies in the country. That allowed its introduction into the most important society of constructions at the beginning of the 20th century.
16. English Cemetery
It is located in the old road to Torreblascopedro, opposite to the public cemetery of St José. The English cemetery constitutes the clearest example of the British sociocultural influence. The British community professed Protestantism ?a “new” way of seeing Christianity? which has been part of the multiculturalism of Linares until today and whose origins are found in the 19th century. An exception to that was the English family who was catholic.
Private property. Hermanos de Linares Assembly.
Opening hours:
Saturdays: 10:00 – 14:00
Appointments:
Tourism Department of the City Council of Linares
(953 60 78 12 / 953 10 01 83).
Contact person: Juan Parrilla
17. Crypt and Chapel of the Marquises of Linares’ Hospital
It was built between 1905 and 1917 thanks to the Marquises of Linares. This building is an emblem of the historicist architecture and one of the most beautiful hospitals in Andalusia. It is neogothic and it has an H floor plan with spacious gardens. In its façade, with base made of stone and red brick, the central nave stands out. The building has mudéjar remains and the stone has clear steeple designs and trefoil arches.
This outstanding building today hosts a museum which allows us to know in situ a hospital specialised in illnesses proper of miners as well as the relationship between health and religion. Besides, we can see how the Marquises of Linares cared about their city. Their mortal remains lie in the mausoleum of the magnificent crypt sculpted in Carrara marble ?a work of the great sculptor Lorenzo Coullaut Valera.
Opening hours:
Winter:
Saturdays and Sundays: 10:00 – 14:00 and 17:00 – 19:00
Summer:
Saturdays and Sundays: 10:00 – 14:00 and 18:00 – 20:00
Extra information here.
18. St José’s Church
This church from the 20th century has a marked Western Andalusian character (yellow over white). The name is closely related to the job of the maderista, so necessary to prop up the mining galleries with logs. The church is of special ethological interest as it is located in a working-class neighbourhood dated from the 19th century (Cantarranas).
19. St Bárbara’s Church
This church dates from the 20th century. Both the architectural design and the decorative one were the work of the painter from Linares Francisco Baños. It has a rectangular floor plan and the works by Carulla, Navas Parejo and Víctor de los Ríos can be found indoors. In its simple construction resides its beauty. It possesses a great ethnological value as it name comes from the miners’ landlady: St Bárbara.
