Photo: Lourdes Cardenal · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Museo de la Cantería

Museum in Rasines dedicated to the stonemason's craft and to the masters of the Asón valley, such as the Gil de Hontañón family, housed in the former schools of Cereceda.

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About the museum

The Museo de la Cantería (stonemasonry museum) in Rasines is named after Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón, considered in his time the finest master stonemason of the Kingdom of Castile. It is in the Cereceda district, opposite the church, in an ashlar stone building that once housed the district's old schools. Today it also functions as a municipal tourist information point.

The Asón region produced several families of stonemasons, among them the Rasines and the Gil de Hontañón. Juan Gil de Hontañón, a native of Rasines, was master of the cathedrals of Salamanca and Segovia, and his son Rodrigo worked in Santiago de Compostela, Salamanca, Segovia, Valladolid and Alcalá de Henares, and became master of El Escorial. Many stonemasons from the valley took part in building cathedrals, palaces, convents and universities in Castile and even in Andalusia.

The permanent exhibition shows the different types of stone, the tools of the trade and the model of the crane with which the blocks were lifted, as well as plans, information on how the works were carried out, and panels with archaeological remains from the region. One room is dedicated to the church of San Andrés, which was built with the money Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón left to have a chapel in the village of his parents. The visit is completed by the audiovisual “El Sueño de la Piedra”.

Highlights

Permanent exhibition on the stonemason's craft and its tradition in the Asón valley
Tools, types of stone and the stonemasons' crane model
Room dedicated to the church of San Andrés, with a model
Audiovisual “El Sueño de la Piedra”
Municipal tourist information point