"Four hundred men working for two hundred years would not be enough to dig all these mines".
The words of the engineer Juan Guillermo Thalacker after visiting the Arditurri mines in Oiartzun (Gipuzkoa) in 1803 represent this area's greatness and uniqueness.
Did you know that the Arditurri mines belong to the few mining galleries that have been exploited practically non-stop for 2,000 years? Nowadays, the mining area has been recovered after the Real Compañía Asturiana de Minas (Royal Asturian Mining Company) abandoned the mines in 1984.
You can visit some of the underground galleries of the mining area in Arditurri by taking a guided tour, as well as the Aiako Harria Natural Park Interpretation Centre "Parketxe", to learn about the rich heritage, culture and nature of the park in an easy and educational setting.
A visit inside the heart of the Arditurri mines is conceived as a journey through time in which the mind, the senses and the emotions are involved. Lighting and sound play a vital role, as they create a magical atmosphere inside the gallery, transporting visitors to all the different periods in the history of these mines.
Thanks to new technologies, it is possible to recreate the sounds and atmospheres experienced inside the Arditurri gallery during its more than 2,000 years of exploitation. They range from the noise made by the rocks as they fall to the most absolute silence accompanied only by swaying reflections on the water of the lakes. Visiting the gallery is undoubtedly an unforgettable experience.
This entrance ticket allows you to visit the Interpretation Centre and the gallery (adapted footbridge of 180 m).
Duration: 60 min.
Audio guide available for English, French and Catalan visits. Contact Arditurri to request this service in advance. Remember to come with your headphones (standard jack connector). Limited number of units.
An adult must accompany children under 5 years old.
Accessible and suitable for people with limited mobility.
An in-depth tour of the Arditurri mine: underground landscape and Roman remains.
This adventure takes us back in time as we go deep into the mine, providing visitors with information on important concepts that will help them to self-identify the remains from the Roman period in the underground landscape.
As we follow the wagon tracks used in modern mining, we will make a stop at the archaeological excavation site carried out in the summer of 2008, discovering secrets that have been hidden in the area for a very long time.
This is an extraordinary opportunity to learn about the development of mining throughout its history.
The entrance ticket includes visiting the Interpretation Centre, 180 m of the main gallery on the first floor and 500 m of a lower level.
Duration: 75 min.
Audio guide available for English, French and Catalan visits. Contact Arditurri to request this service in advance. Remember to come with your headphones (standard jack connector). Limited number of units.
Visit not accessible for children under 5 years old and people with reduced mobility.
Just follow the Greenway! Arditurri Mine is at the end of the path.
There is no public transport to get there. The nearest bus stop is in the Altzibar district of Oiartzun (lines E02 and E04). After that, you must walk or cycle the last 5 kilometres of the Greenway.
To get there by car, once in the town centre of Oiartzun, take the GI-3420 road. Take the exit to the Arditurri mining area, signposted a few kilometres past the Ergoien neighbourhood. The car park is 300 metres from the mining area. Leave your car here and walk or cycle the last stretch of the Greenway.
The mines have been exploited since the time of the Roman Empire. However, remains found in the surrounding area have revealed that mining began earlier. Silver, iron, lead, zinc, fluorite and blende have been obtained in Aiako Harria for 2,500 years.
Arditurri mining reserve is located in one of the access points, anchored in the geological conditions of the massif.
It offers visitors the chance to view a complete mining landscape: open-cast quarries, tailings dumps, steep slopes and earthworks, mine shafts, old mine buildings, as well as the former railway track used to transport the ore to the port of Pasaia, which has now been converted into a Greenway. However, beneath the ground, the human influence is more remarkable, with dozens of kilometres of galleries organised in a network of different working and extraction areas.
The former mining laboratory building houses the Parketxe Interpretation Centre, which provides a pleasant and educational introduction to the rich heritage, culture and nature of the Aiako Harria Natural Park.
