Centre d’Interpretació de la Mina d’Aigua
Visit
Guided tours are available for groups and in different languages. Consult availability and prices at the El Masnou Municipal Nautical Museum.
Accessible for those with reduced mobility just the interpretation center, not de galleries.
Address
Plaça d’Ocata, 7
08320, El Masnou
Getting there
By train: RENFE destination Ocata, Line R1
By coach: SARBUS, C10 Barcelona-Mataró
By car: Closest car park in 500 m (Nova de les Dones del Tèxtil Square, entrance on Flos i Calcat Street)
Opening hours
Sunday 11 am to 2 pm
Annual closing: 1, 6 January, 1 May and 24, 25, 26, 31 December.
Registration form:
http://www.elmasnou.cat/formularis/inscripcio-activitats-el-masnou-terra-de-mar/
Information:
Masnou Tourism Office
Telephone: 93 557 18 34
turisme@elmasnou.cat
Masnou Municipal Nautical Museum
Telephone: 935 571 830
museu@elmasnou.cat
We invite you to go underground to discover a section of the Cresta and Malet water mines, which form part of a 27-km long labyrinth of galleries. Once the renovation works of the old butcher shop located in the Ocata Square have been completed, the building opens its doors as a visitor reception and an interpretation center of the Water Mine.
The aim of the museological presentation is to recreate the courtyard of a well-to-do house in the municipality with the typical laundry, reconstructed from original pieces.
You can also see a collection of objects linked to the construction of this network for water supply, as well as the audio-visual The mines of El Masnou, a heritage of everyone.
The section of mines accessed during the visit, about 40 meters, runs through an underground gallery that was reinforced to make access easier and ensure security, as well as an air-raid shelter. The space was adapted in 1999 thanks to the collaboration from the Association of Friends of the Malet Mine, the Community of Owners of the Cresta Mine and the support from City Council of El Masnou.
A bit of history...
Starting in the 18th century, with the urban growth of the town, mines are being excavated to capture and collect the water filtering through the substratum and channel it to the houses.
A mine is comprised of an underground spring or source, a series of galleries with pipes to channel water and a reservoir to collect it. The water is carried to different houses via distributors, underground or in towers -there are still several well-conserved examples in the town- depending on the feathers they own, that is the amount of water they contracted. Finally, water reaches the reservoirs, where it accumulates as a reserve, and the laundries, which receive the excess water.
This system of mines operated until the 1960s or 1970s, when water supply was taken over by the Municipal Water Service. There are still some homes today that, despite having the municipal service, use this mine water for domestic uses.