MWINAS – Museo Minero de Andorra

About the museum

The museum was born in 2005, when several local groups in Andorra organised the “El oficio del minero” (The Miner's Trade) events to pay tribute to miners at a time when the profession was disappearing: that same year the last underground mine in operation in Alloza closed. The initiative came from a retired miner, Ángel García Cañada, and had the support of the Centro de Estudios Locales (CELAN), the Comarca Andorra-Sierra de Arcos, mining companies, trade unions and retired miners. Those events led to the recovery of pieces, tools, machinery and photographs, and to an exhibition at the Pozo de San Juan that was originally conceived as temporary.

After the success of the exhibition, the regional institutions decided to make it permanent. ENDESA, the owner of the land, handed it over to Andorra Town Council, and the Comarca took on the investment to turn it into a museum and open it to the public. Most of the objects on display were donated by ENDESA, and a group of early-retired miners continues to help with maintenance and the addition of new pieces.

The Pozo de San Juan was a project of the Empresa Nacional Calvo Sotelo (ENCASO): excavation began in November 1950, but a water vein halted the works and the project was abandoned in 1960 without ever becoming a working mine. The headframe (castillete), the winding machine and other installations have been preserved and restored, and today they form part of the museum together with the machinery park, the gardens and a scale mining train that runs on original rails of the Andorra-Escatrón railway.

Highlights

• Permanent exhibition in a former warehouse, with re-created spaces such as the lamp room, changing room, infirmary, company store and school
• Outdoor sculpture park of about 5,700 m² with large mining machinery
• Headframe and winding machine of the Pozo de San Juan
• Scale mining train on rails of the Andorra-Escatrón railway (weekends and public holidays)
• Interpretation Centre “Ecological Restoration of Mining Areas” in Val de Ariño (Alloza)

Permanent exhibitions

• La exposición permanente – Photographs, plans, tools and models on the trade and life of the miner, with re-created spaces, panels on the mines of the district, an exhibition on the Andorra-Escatrón mining railway, and a mining gallery serving as an audiovisual room.
• La exposición al aire libre o parque escultórico – Area of some 5,700 m² with numerous large machines, such as wagons, drills and shovels, arranged in a sequence that explains the methods of coal extraction and accompanied by interpretive panels.
• Espacio de Interpretación «Restauración Ecológica de Zonas Mineras» – Guided route of about 7 km through Val de Ariño, with three viewpoints over the Alloza and Barrabasa open-cast pits, showing the stages of open-cast coal mining and its restoration.

Founded

2005

Operated by

Comarca Andorra-Sierra de Arcos

Admission & discounts

The individual admission of €5 covers the guided visit to the museum.

Accessibility

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Kids & families

The ride on the scale mining train, in a period carriage with twelve seats, is one of the museum's attractions for children and adults (currently out of service).

Getting there & parking

The museum is on the Paseo de las Minas, in Andorra (Teruel). The Ecological Restoration of Mining Areas Interpretation Centre is in Val de Ariño, between Alloza and Andorra, and the route between its viewpoints is guided and made by vehicle.

Amenities & dining

Large landscaped area with trees, lawns and paths for visitors.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent
• Weddings / ceremonies

The gardens of the Pozo de San Juan can be hired, on request and payment of the approved rate, for weddings, meetings and other events. Information at the regional headquarters: +34 978 843 853.

Plan your visit