La Mina de l’Estany

This branch of the Moianès Ecomuseum is aimed at explaining the relationships which link the natural space of the L’Estany pond with the Augustinian monastery which owned the land and took the initiative of draining the area in an attempt to fight against malarial fevers and to gain new arable land.

The land was dried out through an engineering project – the drain– which today still continues the task it was built for: taking the water out of the L’Estany plain. We invite you to come and visit the L’Estany drainage tunnel.

The drain is an engineering project from the 18th century ordered by 5 royal dignitaries (5 canons from Vic, Barcelona and Girona). The building works were carried out over 3 years (from 1734 to 1737). The dry-stone drain is 425 metres long: 390m of barrel vaulted roof and the rest with a flat slab roof.

The first attempts to dry the area date back to the 14th century, with the digging of open air canals and irrigation ditches. In 1554, Abbot Carles of Cardona ordered the widening and deepening of some of the existing irrigation ditches, but he didn’t manage to dry the pond. It wasn’t until the 18th century, thanks to the construction of the dry-stone drainage tunnel, that the land was successfully drained, and it continues serving its function to this day.

CONTACT+INFO

Ecomuseu-01

 Prat de L’Estany | 08148 L’Estany

93 830 14 18 – Consorci del Moianès

ecomuseu@consorcidelmoianes.cat

 http://moianesturisme.cat/elmoianes/ecomuseu/