Almadén

Almadén municipality
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Castile-La Mancha
Province :	Ciudad Real
Coordinates	38 ° 46 ′ N , 4 ° 50 ′ W Coordinates: 38 ° 46 ′ N , 4 ° 50 ′ W
Height :	589 msnm
Area :	239.64 km²
Residents :	5,312 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density :	22.17 inh / km²
Postal code :	13400
Municipality number ( INE ):	13011

Almadén is a municipality in the Spanish province of Ciudad Real in the autonomous region of Castilla-La Mancha .

The name is derived from the Arabic termالمعادن / al-maʿādin / 'the minerals'.

Near Almadén are the largest deposits of vermilion on earth. These have been mined for mercury production since ancient times . Around a third of the mercury ever extracted worldwide comes from here. In earlier centuries prisoners, who often suffered from mercury poisoning, were often used for this purpose. According to a contemporary study from the 16th century, 24% of inmates died before completing their sentence. Funding was discontinued in 2003 for economic reasons and to protect the environment .

In place of the Almadén mine , a European mercury repository is currently (as of March 2013) being built with co-financing from the LIFE (EU) program. The mining site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2012 together with the Slovenian Idrija mine . A museum has been built on the site of the mine, from which guided tours into the interior of the facilities from the 16th to 18th centuries are offered.

Web links

Commons : Almadén - collection of images, videos and audio files

Information on the history and gastronomy of Almadéns in Spanish
http://www.ecologistasenaccion.org/article.php3?id_article=1894
Dando un paseo por Almadén ( Memento of October 2, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
Contaminación, reales decretos, y el legado minero de España ( Memento of October 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
Operator of the repository and the museum

Individual evidence

↑ Cifras oficiales de población resultantes de la revisión del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero . Population statistics from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (population update).
↑ ^a ^b Milara, F. Javier Carrasco: The mining park of Almadén. In: Urban Research & Practice. 4 (2), 2011, pp. 215-218, doi : 10.1080 / 17535069.2011.605847 .
↑ UNESCO World Heritage Center: Heritage of Mercury. Almadén and Idrija
↑ MAYASA: Mining park of Almadén ( Memento from June 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive )

[1] Cifras oficiales de población resultantes de la revisión del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero . Population statistics from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (population update).

[Milara-2] Milara, F. Javier Carrasco: The mining park of Almadén. In: Urban Research & Practice. 4 (2), 2011, pp. 215-218, doi : 10.1080 / 17535069.2011.605847 .

[3] UNESCO World Heritage Center: Heritage of Mercury. Almadén and Idrija

[4] MAYASA: Mining park of Almadén ( Memento from June 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive )