Las Medulas
Las Medulas is a fascinating landscape that was created by the Romans some 2,000 years ago. Las Medulas used to be the most important gold mine in the Roman Empire. It’s located in the province of Leon at some 20 km from Ponferrada, Spain.
This is the result of Roman occupation of a land and of course, its evolution through the years. The Romans removed 500 millions of m³ of land to get 3 grams of gold per tone of land. The exploitation was involving 60,000 free workers in 250 years. They bring the water from the Sierra de La Cabrera with a system of channels more than hundred kilometers long.
Today Las Medulas is a cultural park which has an Information Centre that explains the site in detail to visitors. There is any number of hiking trails which allows visitors to go back in time. Also you can visit the channels with a guide and a helmet. Las Medulas Cultural Landscape is was declared by the UNESCO as one of the World Heritage Sites in 1997.
