Samuño Valley Ecomuseum and San Luis Pit

The influence of the Carbones de La Nueva and Real Compañía Asturiana de Minas mining companies was instrumental in shaping La Nueva as we know it today. The building of houses, barracks, etc., was promoted at a company level. The industrial landscape and sociology thus become key elements in the creation of the Samuño Valley Mining Ecomuseum in Llangréu/Langreo.

The museum project was based mainly on the former San Luis Pit, the mining village of La Nueva, spawned by the pit itself, and the railroad and mine entrance leading to the coal.

The recovery of the railroad that carried the coal down from the Samuño mines to the Nalón Valley thus enables visitors to the ecomuseum to ride on an authentic mining train and follow the old coal road.

The train ride begins in the open air, climbing uphill surrounded by chestnut trees through the narrow valley, alongside the River Samuño. It then heads deep into the darkness of the bowels of the earth along an old horizontal mine entrance one kilometre long to reach the first level of San Luis Pit, where the cage will bring the intrepid passengers back out into the light of day and allow them to discover one of the architectural jewels of Industrial Heritage on a national scale. A unique experience in European industrial tourism not to be missed.