Riópar: A Royal Brass Factory in the Sierra
Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
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Reales Fábricas de San Juan de Alcaraz
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300
XP
+100 Spain
= 400 total
1 day
Riópar: A Royal Brass Factory in the Sierra
300 + 100 XP
In 1772 Charles III gave royal permission to the Austrian engineer Juan Jorge Graubner to build brass works at Riópar — the Reales Fábricas de Bronce y Latón de San Juan de Alcaraz, the first brass and bronze factory in Spain and the second in Europe after Goslar in Germany. The site was chosen for what it had beside it: running water, timber, and a calamine deposit for the zinc, with copper for the alloy. A whole industrial village grew with it and worked for two centuries. Above the village the Mundo river comes out of the mountain at the Nacimiento del Río Mundo, a cave mouth in a limestone cirque with a waterfall dropping from it, which in the right conditions blows out in a phenomenon called the reventón.
Required Activities
1
of 5
Go round the old works and work out what the site had to have: water, timber, calamine and copper, all in one valley
2
of 5
Find out who Juan Jorge Graubner was and what Charles III gave him permission to build in 1772
3
of 5
Walk up to the Nacimiento del Río Mundo and see a river come straight out of a cliff
4
of 5
Find out what the reventón is and what conditions have to line up for it
5
of 5
Walk the Calares del Mundo y de la Sima park above, which is the limestone country the water comes through
Go round the old works and work out what the site had to have: water, timber, calamine and copper, all in one valley
Find out who Juan Jorge Graubner was and what Charles III gave him permission to build in 1772
Walk up to the Nacimiento del Río Mundo and see a river come straight out of a cliff
Find out what the reventón is and what conditions have to line up for it
Walk the Calares del Mundo y de la Sima park above, which is the limestone country the water comes through
Before you go
The reventón is unpredictable and depends on rainfall — do not travel specifically for it. Mountain roads here are narrow and winding.
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About Castilla-La Mancha
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
300 XP
Spain country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
400 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in Spain.
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