Mazonovo
Encyclopedia
Mazonovo is a former town and now a museum in the municipality of Taramundi
Taramundi
Taramundi is a municipality in the Principality of Asturias, Spain.It neighbors on the north side with San Tirso de Abres and Vegadeo, on the east side with Villanueva de Oscos and Vegadeo, on the south side with Santa Eulalia de Oscos and A Pontenova , on the east side with Lugo.It is one of...

, Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...

, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. It is located between the Cabreira River and the Turía River
Turía (river)
The Turia is a small river, 9 km in length and an altitude of 250 m above the sea, which rises in the town of Taramundi and drains into the Eo River in the town of Puente Nuevo ....

, southeast of the town of Taramundi, northwest of Veigas
Veigas
Veigas is one of four parishes in Taramundi, a municipality within the province and autonomous community of Asturias, in northern Spain.Situated at above sea level, it is in size, with a population of 98 ....

, and 183 km (113.7 mi) from Oviedo
Oviedo
Oviedo is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city....

, the capital of Asturias. According to the census of 2005, the population is four people.

The meaning behind the translated name is derived from the iron products region of the Oscos-Eo rivers.

The Mazonovo forge stands near the road to Fonsagrada Vegadeo near Santa Eulalia de Oscos
Santa Eulalia de Oscos
Santa Eulalia de Oscos is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain...

. The forge is reached by crossing the Mazonovo River, a tributary of the Agüeira River.

The current owners of the Mazonovo mill date back to the early 19th century. The first mill at Mazonovo was built in 1890. In 1941, a new mill was built on the Cabreira's opposite riverbank to house the mill and powerplant. The original mill, restored in 2003, was then incorporated into the museum. Asturias' director of Biodiversity and Landscape recently gave support to an initiative for natural spawning of trout at Mazonovo.

Museum

No longer a town, Mazonovo has been converted into a museum by Conjunto Etnográfico de Mazonovo (Joint Mazonovo Ethnography). Known as "Museo de los Molinos de Mazonovo" (Museum of the Mills of Mazonovo), or "Mazonovo, Museo de los Molinos", it is dedicated to the mill
Mill (grinding)
A grinding mill is a unit operation designed to break a solid material into smaller pieces. There are many different types of grinding mills and many types of materials processed in them. Historically mills were powered by hand , working animal , wind or water...

s, both water
Watermill
A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...

 and manual, that were used for grinding cereal
Cereal
Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...

. At one time a maquiladoras, the mills of Mazonovo evolved from prehistoric times until present day. Some of the mills of Mazonovo are reproductions while others are restored originals. In addition, Mazonovo features utensils used by ancient millwright
Millwright
A millwright is a craftsman or tradesman engaged with the construction and maintenance of machinery.Early millwrights were specialist carpenters who erected machines used in agriculture, food processing and processing lumber and paper...

s.

Building 1 has hand mills from Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations dating around 3500 BC. It also displays the interior of the gravity mill
Johann Bessler
Johann Ernst Elias Bessler was a German entrepreneur who demonstrated a series of devices that he claimed exhibited perpetual motion.-Life and career:...

 whose wheel, 5 m (16.4 ft) in diameter, is on the outside. There is also Mazonovo's first mill that used a hydraulic press
Hydraulic press
A hydraulic is a machine using a hydraulic cylinder to generate a compressive force. It uses the hydraulic equivalenta mechanical lever, and was also known as a Bramah press after the inventor, Joseph Bramah, of England. He invented and was issued a patent on this press in 1795...

, a medieval mill that visitors can set in motion, a manual Chinese mill, and a hydraulic Brazilian (Monjolo
Monjolos
Monjolos is a Brazilian municipality located in the northeast of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population as of 2007 was 2,303 living in a total area of 652 km². The city belongs to the statistical mesoregion of Central Mineira and to the statistical microregion of Curvelo. It became a...

) mill.

Building 2 has a power station for a modern mill running without interruption that can be disassembled to observe the moving parts. It features a glass top and panels with tools. A practical explanation of the operation of the mill's grinding stones is included. A wooden hammer mill, built entirely in oak, is located outside and features a water reservoir.

The Al-Bayda mill dates from circa 7000 BC and was found approximately 60 km (37.3 mi) from the Dead Sea
Dead Sea
The Dead Sea , also called the Salt Sea, is a salt lake bordering Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west. Its surface and shores are below sea level, the lowest elevation on the Earth's surface. The Dead Sea is deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world...

. Replicas of windmill
Windmill
A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...

s from different eras and cultures are also displayed.

The museum is not only composed of exhibits, but also allows for visitors to participate in milling activities. Other activities include a workshop to learn how to grinding stone.
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