El País de la Plata
Our mining history
With this name we refer to the villages and landscapes transformed by the silver mining activity around Hiendelaencina in the course of the Bornova River in the northeastern area of the natural park and on the southern slope of the Sierra del Alto Rey. The villages of this region are the typical villages of the Golden Architecture (gneiss and quartzite).
Its history, its image and the observation of the landscape are linked to its Silver Mines that, long ago, gave splendor to the region. Its appearance is pierced by the hollows behind which the mining constructions, ruins and shafts are hidden.
Due to its geomorphological characteristics (gneiss and quartzite) it is a hard, abrupt and dry territory, with a vegetation of melojo oaks, holm oaks and bushes such as thyme, wild roses and rockroses, which resists the climatic inclemencies of cold winters and cold winters.The vegetation of riverside vegetation, willows and poplars on the banks of rivers and streams.
This region underwent a fortuitous and rapid transformation around 1845 when silver was discovered in its subsoil. This industrial activity attracted thousands of people to work in its mines, which modified both the physiognomy of its landscapes (winches, shafts, mills...) and its economy with the opening of new businesses or its urban center with the birth of a new town, which became known as the silver fever.
Today the vestiges of this glorious past persist and several trails lead us to see the old winches, shafts and mills on the outskirts of the village or dams and power plants in the course of the river Bornova. The Silver Mining Museum, which is also the Visitors' Center of the Sierra Norte de Guadalajara Natural Park, tells this fascinating story.