Tower of Hercules and Las Medulas Mines - Essay Example

Tower of Hercules and Les Madulas Mines A country rich by tradition and heritage, Spain proves to be rich in both. The Roman invaders captured a large portion of the region, began building their fortresses, symbols, and continued a mass plunder of the Hispanic resources for the next few centuries. Just as the Roman Empire weakened in the early fifth century, the German occupied the territory through a mass expulsion of Roman elements from the region. During their rule, Romans had built monuments of value that the new invaders considered worth maintaining. Sharing in the glory of the Roman era, Germans utilized the infrastructure built by the Romans to generate wealth for the next three centuries. However, the Germans lost to a new invading army of the Umayyad Dynasty in the eighth century. The Muslim rule of Spain continued until the fifteenth century when the Christian Kings reoccupied the country. History of Spain is rather unique in the sense that many of the historical buildings survived the turmoil of different invaders. The Tower of Hercules is one such monument, which stands erect on the Spanish soil since the first century. The architectural splendor of the tower is the achievement of Gaius Sevius Lupus, a famous imperial architect of that era. Tower of Hercules originally stood thirty-four meter high, with three levels. The first level has the structure of a typical Roman lighthouse, just near to the base of the tower is a rectangular roman building which provides for the purpose of a fortress. The final level is contains a magnificent sculpture park, with several rock carvings surrounding it on all sides. These rock carvings are from Iron Age as known through architectural excavations. This tower signifies such glory that during the Muslim era, many aristocrats had a desire to rest in its protection when they die. A small Muslim cemetery exists in its pavilion, which certainly relates to the historical diversity of Spain. Sculpture Park consists of many interesting curvatures. These include a huge structure of a snail, tall enough to dwarf the existence of the humans, the park also includes small doors paved for entry into the park, and these doors include symbols of strength such as two lions guarding the door. The park extends to the central structure and provides as a nice picnic spot for modern day tourists. This almost two thousand year old tower located in North Western Spain about two and a half kilometers from the center of Galicia has led invaders, visitors and travelers in awe over the history. Many travelers began to mention the tower and the glory it added to Spain in their biographies. Through their inscriptions, historians believe that the lighthouse was in the vicinity surrounded by the palaces of Roman nobles. The lighthouse therefore was a fortress through which the army guarded and watched its shores from any potential army. The interior structure is such that a few men armed with primitive warfare equipment could fight an army of invaders. As annals of history turned, the tower surrounded a maritime coast. It became a hub for traders to exchange goods and to generate wealth. During the middle ages, the city lost its value as a trading center due to it becoming highly unpopular for massive shipwrecks on its coasts. The shipwrecks were so common that history knows the area as the “Coast of Death.” Later in the same era, the lighthouse regained its significance as a fortress, where the great armies guarded their coasts and parked their navy. The reason for choosing this coast was that the coast was notorious and any invading army would have to rethink its invasion in the wake of storms that were common to the area. Tower of Hercules is not in its original form today, due to its rehabilitation during different times in history. In 1788, a naval engineer named Eustaquio Giannini gave the original tower a restoration. The completion of the tower’s current structure took place during the reign of Emperor Charles III in 1791 (Richter, pp. 109-118). Another floor built on the original three story building, gave the tower its current structure and adding to its beauty manifold. After rehabilitation, the lighthouse is now fifty-five meters tall and it overlooks the North Atlantic coast of Spain. The tower itself stands at an elevation; built on a fifty-seven meters rock the structure is magnificent. The exterior consists of wall made of stone and the tower has two doors for entry to the lower part. The windows are erected on the tower are asymmetrical and extend to the third floor. The base of the tower is a strong square structure, which provides it with its strength. The original structure is still in its true form in the interior and the only changes made to the interior consist of the wooden stairs to provide for the tourists to climb their way up easily and safely. The stairs are of wood and to harmonize them with carvings on the inner structure of doors and windows the original theme prevails. Tower of Hercules is the world oldest surviving lighthouse. The lighthouse is operational since the first century when it was originally constructed. The original structure of the lighthouse provided for an ascending ramp raised above the walls. Through these ramps, the oxen would carry wood for fueling the flames of the lighthouse. Historians have studied the structure and they believe that the tower exists since 20 BC. The oldest lighthouse known to the world was the Pharos of Alexandria, Egypt constructed on the orders of Ptolemy I and his son between 300-280 BC. However, that lighthouse has not survived history because of mutilations of several invaders and natural disasters such as earthquakes. The tower of Hercules for its definite charisma attracts many myths to it, and no one exactly knows if they are true. The most celebrated of those myths is the Legend of Hercules himself that is from where the tower got its current name. According to the myth, the hero Hercules fought a fierce battle in this region. It was the kingdom of a tyrant known as Geryon. The battle itself lasted three nights and three days, and resulted in the destruction of the oppressor’s army. Hercules declared the region and its people to be free and ordered the construction of a modern new-classical city in the region. That is the time according to the legend when the city emerged and the lighthouse was constructed. The myth does not end here; it is customary to believe that Hercules beheaded Geryon in order to make an example out of him that history would never forget. Tower signifies the strength of the Romans, as the remains of Geryon are right underneath the foundations of the tower. The tower had a skull with crossed bones on the top to imply that anyone who defies the Roman army would have to suffer grave consequences. (Robert, pp. 9-16) These symbols terrified the souls of the invading armies for years to come. Many insurgents slaughtered ruthlessly for their tyranny during the next few decades and the fortress has guarded the sanctity of the Roman Empire in Spain. The Roman army at that time thought that the shores beyond the tower signify the end of the world and hence the tower erected as a declaration of the conquest of the end of the world. The end of the world in the myths was the land of Finisterra. This place is also the final destination to a pilgrimage to shrine of the apostle Saint James that leads to the way to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Another legend related to the tower that has historical value is from the eleventh century according to which, King Breogan constructed a huge tower in order to convince his sons of the vast land beyond the region that needed to be conquered. The green shores visible from the top of the tower were the sole motivation of his sons to reach lands beyond and as further as Ireland. The tower of Hercules has gained such historic significance that it considered a National Monument by the Government of Spain. A large number of excavations were carried out in the early 1990s, those revealed the Roman foundations of the structure. In addition, recently as of 27 June 2009 the international organization of UNESCO included it in its World Heritage Site. Light from above the tower produces four flashes every twenty seconds and can be observed from a distance of as long as thirty two miles from the shore. The tower itself has two-forty-two steps to climb up to the top of the lighthouse. The lantern is itself marvelous and creates a magical spell into the heart of the visitors who can gleam into the shores from the top on one side and view the city of Coruna on the other side of the coastline. Spain is full of historical monuments and history has paved its way and shaped its landscape revealing the mighty and victorious successes of the Roman Empire for generations to come. One such landscape is the Las Medulas gold mines. These mines are located near Ponferado in region of El Bierzo province, they used to be the most important and productive mines under the Romans. These mines appear as splendid red rocks when viewed from a distance. To reach the original area one has to take a hike of about eight hundred meters. The journey begins from Las Medulas village, from where the locals drive tourists towards the mines on four wheeled cars. The central mine area where the landscape gets to its best spreads over ten square kilometers. The mines have red peaks that appear to be the result of excessive erosion. However, the land surrounding the mines is green with vegetation primarily including chestnut trees, colorful flowers, and berries. The mines include water paths and a huge lake, which appears as the cause of this unique landscape. The area is caters to tourists and has many hotels and cafes in the surrounding villages. The mines themselves have tracks, walking points and viewpoints. In addition, many archaeological remains visitor centers and shops to buy souvenirs surround the area. The most spectacular view of the area is from a point further away from the mines known as Mirador de Orellan. This area was of specific interest for archeologists, geologists, and historians alike and a study of the rocks and the landscape reveals the historic significance of the site. This site is another landmark through which the Romans left their mark on the Spanish land. The area covered by mountains was much larger in span and more peaked centuries ago before Romans invaded the region. After the discovery of gold, the Romans wanted to plunder the mines before they would leave the region. For this, they built a massive infrastructure and brought to use such mining techniques that are precursors to the current hydraulic mining techniques used in California. A network of canals established within few years after invasion that brought water to the mines from rivers as far as a hundred kilometers. The canals formed as least seven different aqueducts, from which water flew into the bores dug and cracked in the mountains by the Roman army. It would have taken much longer to dig deep into mines and to recover most of the gold contained inside the mountains, so the Romans decided to use a technique known as Ruina Montium (Knight, pp. 132-138). Small holes are bored into the mountains for which the miners had to stay in the mines for months without seeing any sunlight. Most miners would die during the process, either due to shortage of supplies reaching them or because of low ventilation maintaining the desired level of water pressure needed to break the mountains (Kalcyk, pp. 82.) The technique was inhuman but was very effective as the water pushes into the mountains through the vast network of aqueducts the mountains would eventually burst open revealing the gold reserves contained. To develop high levels of water pressure a network of dams emerged and the water seeped into the mountains after months of storage of water in the dams. The same water also catered for washing the gold recovered and in cleaning and chemical processes. Over the next two centuries, the Romans had plundered most of these mines and the left the area. UNESCO also lists this particular site in its list of World Heritage sites. This listing was a bit controversial as a delegate from Thailand considered the landscape to be the result of humans’ destructive activities and mass plunder of natural recourses. He argued that this would reflect negatively on the case of maintaining the ecosystem and equilibrium in the environment. His proposition won him the support of delegates from Germany and France. These sites of historical significance have been a source of inspiration for many artists and leaders. In the seventeenth century, the artist Pablo Picasso moved to the area near the tower of Hercules as it inspired him to produce great pieces of art. These monuments and landscapes reveal important chapters of Spain’s crucial history and are of great importance collectively to the country, to the world, to the artists and to the tourists who relish in the historic emancipation of this region. Works Cited Kalcyk. H.J. Water in ancient mining. MInstWasser, 1984. Knight. H.H. On the methods employed by the ancients in working gold mines. Arch Cambr, 1856. Richter. Jean Paul. “The Sculptures on the Façade”. McMillan Magazine. Volume 42, 1880, 109-118. Southey. Robert. Letter of a journey into Spain. University of Michigan, 1808. Read More