Almunia del Romeral

Almunia del Romeral is a small village situated North-East from Huesca city. From Huesca take the main road to Barbastro (N–240) and after a few kms turn left (A–1227) to Loporzano, Bandaliés, and Sipán, then Loscertales. Past Sipán, but before reaching Loscertales, left again to Molinos de Sipán. Drive through Los Molinos, the streets are narrow, where you will cross the river Gratizalema, and continue to the end of the road in La Almunia del Romeral.

Pictures: 29.xii.1995, 06.x.2016

In former times this (1) must have been an impressive industrial complex: two flour mills, a copper foundry, a fulling mill and a paper mill, face to face on the banks of the Guatizalema (†).

The complex has been out of use for a long time and it is difficult to identify the different parts, especially since I could not find a good description anywhere. On top of that, in both 1995 and 2016, the locals working in the vegetable gardens were not particularly welcoming.

Picture 1 shows an overview of the whole site. At the bottom right we see the dam (4) on the Río Gratizalema. The blocky gray building on the road is the pumping station that brings water from the river to Huesca city. To the left of this pump station we see bright green vegetable gardens which are irrigated by the mill canal (5–6).

The big tree hides the remains of the old industrial buildings: pictures 2 and 3 show what must be the remains of the copper foundry (‡). To the right of the tree and at the top of the photo we see some small constructions (8) which are also part of the complex and hide some strange devices (7, 9–11).

†: Pallaruelo Campo, Severino — 1994 — Los Molinos del Alto Aragón.
Instituto de Estudios Altoaragoneses, Huesca. 310pp. I.S.B.N.: 84-8I27-013-X

‡: Blázquez, Carlos, & Pallaruelo, Severino — 1999 — Maestros del Agua.
Diputación General de Aragón, Zaragoza. 735pp. l.S.B.N.: 84-7753-780- 1