Las Menas de Serón
In the Sierra de los Filabres, the mining town of Las Menas (Serón) was built to extract iron ore from this area in the Almanzora region. The mines remained active until 1968, and there was a population of 2,900 people including miners and their families. A 6-kilometre signposted trail takes you through the colony, from an English-style chapel to a singles pavilion, as well as a barrack house and a visitor centre, where the history of the place is explained.
During the fifty or so years the mines were open, the old town of Las Menas de Serón stood beside the most important and productive iron ore deposits in the province of Almería. Building was based on extremely hierarchical urban planning and in accordance with the social status of each inhabitant. The buildings are very different in style and of a high architectural standard. A point of reference is the Chapel of Santa Bárbara, but there are also offices, a workers' pavilion, a hospital, workshops and a number of houses for managers and technicians.
The town of Las Menas preserves a good number of the buildings from this glorious era. Some of them have been completely restored, others are in the process, including the houses for the Manager of the mines and the Assistant Managers, and the rest are just as they were when they were abandoned by their former inhabitants. The mining complex also has 25 kilometres of galleries from which they first extracted lead and then iron.
After it closed in 1968 it was plundered a number of times before being recovered as a Tourist Centre with a camp site, an aparthotel and other environmental tourism installations that highlight the importance of this unusual complex. There is also a Visitor Centre, a geo-mining interpretation centre and a forest park consisting of indigenous trees and shrubs, where you can learn about both the mining history of the area and the environmental characteristics of the Sierra de los Filabres.
When the mine closed, the town found an alternative economic activity with the production of hams and cured meat products. Today thousands of pieces are cured and there are products of exceptional quality, like Serón Ham, which now has Protected Geographical Indication.
