Discover Mieres: Culture, Pilgrimage Route and Mining History

Mieres del Camín carries its history on several levels: beneath the present-day town lies a Roman origin, while the La Villa district forms the original historic centre of Mieres and lies on the pilgrimage route to Santiago.

Culture and Townscape

La Villa has a traditional urban character; the outdoor areas of the district are open to visitors. The irregular network of streets and squares is characteristic of early agricultural settlements and makes the historic development of the town centre visible.

Casa Duró is the oldest civil building in the town of Mieres. Also located in La Villa is the Palacio del Marqués de Camposagrado, an important historic monument protected as an Asset of Cultural Interest, or BIC for short.

The palace has a central columned courtyard, surrounding gardens and an art collection. The parish church of San Juan Bautista was built in 1926 and is distinctly Neo-Baroque in style.

La Villa therefore allows visitors to view different forms of townscape side by side: the organically developed structure of the old district, a protected historic monument with representative features and a 20th-century church. The outdoor areas of the district provide direct access to the streets, squares and the buildings mentioned above.

Routes and Landscape

The Camín del Salvador is a cultural route. In Mieres, it provides access to part of the official route of the Camino del Salvador, or Way of St James, as well as to the history and industrial heritage of the town.

The Ruta del Ferrocarril de Baltasara begins and ends at the Plaza de Requexu in Mieres.

It is a 10.4-kilometre-long, easy and family-friendly Vía Verde that can be walked year-round. The route combines nature and mining history, passes industrial remains and runs through a landscape shaped by mining.

The routes therefore have different focal points: the Camín del Salvador connects Mieres with a cultural route and the Way of St James, while the Baltasara route brings together nature, industrial remains and mining history. The Vía Verde’s length, difficulty and year-round accessibility give planning it a different framework from the pilgrimage route’s historical context.

Cultural Sites and Squares

The Casa de Cultura Teodoro Cuesta forms the centre of a network of cultural facilities. This network includes an auditorium, an exhibition space, a library and a reading room.

The Plaza de Requexu, also known as Plaza San Juan, is a traffic-free square. Cider is served there, and traditional establishments are also located there.

The Casa de Cultura and the Plaza de Requexu add two further urban points of reference: one brings together various cultural facilities, while the other is associated with a traffic-free square, cider and traditional establishments. Both places complement the historic buildings with public spaces and cultural offerings.

History

Within the municipality of Mieres, Bustiello was established between 1890 and 1917 as a mining settlement. The workers’ houses line three streets and have small gardens.

The history of the town therefore extends from the Roman origin beneath the present-day town, through the old historic centre and the pilgrimage route, to the industrially shaped landscape and the mining settlement of Bustiello. Depending on the focus, architecture, cultural route, landscape and industrial history can be considered as distinct themes without reducing them to the same kind of experience of place.

More pages about local places: Laipata, Cenera, Figaredo, Cardeo Riba, Santu Miano, Urbiés

To the main travel overview: Mieres.