Candás Canning Industry Permanent Exhibition

Located in the old cistern of the Bernardo Alfageme Cider and Canning Factory, the Permanent Exhibition of the Canning Industry of Candás shows, through original pieces and models, the history of canning in the town, paying tribute to all those who have participated in it in one way or another, contextualised within the canning industry at an international level.

The port of Candás has occupied an important place in the seafaring history of the Cantabrian Sea since the Middle Ages. An example of the specific weight that Candás came to have in the past is that the prices that fish fetched on its route served to fix the prices of other ports. During the 19th century, the large volume of fishing turned Candás into a strategic centre for the canning industry, hosting the second canning factory founded in Asturias, making it the place chosen by many factories to set up shop.

The permanent exhibition of the Candás Canning Industry is divided into several exhibition areas. In each one of them, original pieces are exhibited that serve as support for the texts on the panels and allow the visitor to get to know the most representative machines, utensils and materials of the factory.

The exhibition begins with an area dedicated to the seafaring economy, explaining its main characteristics and the mutual influence between the fishing sector and the canning industry. This is followed by a tour of the techniques that were used historically to preserve food, such as cold storage, curing or drying, salting and pickling. This is followed by an area focusing on the birth of canned preserves, as we know them today, and the technical advances that made them possible. Then the first canning factories that operated in the world and the innovations that each one contributed are shown. Further on, the production process of a factory is detailed, from the full cannery to the vacuum cannery. Another area is devoted to the workers in the canneries, describing their working conditions and jobs according to whether they were men or women. Next, the exhibition focuses on the history of the canning industry in Candás and its evolution up to the present day, and finally, it analyses the current state of the canning industry and its trends for the future.

The permanent exhibition of the Candás Canning Industry is another step towards the recovery of the town's past.