An outdoor water museum

Centuries-old engineering that still stands today

There are destinations where cultural heritage is on display in showcases. In the Ricote Valley, however, it lies in the fields. Waterwheels, watermills, weirs, irrigation channels, cisterns, washing places, and power plants make up the inventory of a hydraulic system that the Moors perfected over centuries and that, to a large extent, continues to function today.

It is this water engineering that made the valley’s agricultural landscape possible: transforming the heart of a semi-arid region into a fertile strip of citrus groves, fruit trees, and vegetable gardens that have been feeding its inhabitants since the Middle Ages. That is why the valley has submitted its candidacy to the FAO’s Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) program.

Ojós is home to some of the most notable elements: the waterwheels of Olivar and La Rivera, the Escobero watermill, and the fountains and washhouses that form an ethnographic complex of great value. The future Water Ecomuseum in this municipality will showcase this entire heritage.

The Estrecho del Solvente, designated a Site of Cultural Interest (BIC) in 2020, also plays a central role in this story: the weir, the Fábrica de la Luz, and the vegetable gardens that stretch out at its feet bear witness to how water has always been much more than just a resource here—it was culture; it was identity.