Restoration of granaries in the Valdeón Valley, León. 1988-1992

Abstract

The present article aims to describe the restoration of the (raised) granaries in the Valdeón valley (León) carried out from 1988 to 1992 by the Junta de Castilla y León in collaboration with the Diputación Provincial de León and under the technical direction of the author of the article. The goal of the restoration was to preserve a unique architectural type of the valley - protected since 1985 by the Junta de Castilla y León as Property of Cultural Interest - at that time clearly affected by an attitude of abandonment and underestimation of its owners, as a result of the obsolescence of its original use. This action was undertaken with the idea of a pilot actuation that would simultaneously establish the criteria for possible future maintenance (public or private) actions, and initiate the necessary change of mentality of the autochthonous population towards their architectural heritage. The execution of the work followed, before all, the practical criteria suggested by the participating traditional crafts (therefore, far from purist or theoretical standpoints), and tried to reach a large number of granaries, and logically, the most damaged ones. The work is divided into two stages: in the first one, following an introduction and description of the context of performance, the granaries of the Iberian Peninsula are described as a general framework containing those which ware subject of our study, describing the latter and their pathology in detail. The second part contain the detailed description of the actions undertaken (their criteria and typology) and the conclusions.