Friday, September 29, 2006

what's an horreo?

I thought you'd never ask. An horreo (pronounced similar to the cookie but roll your "r"!) looks like this and you will find it in Northern Spain:






To explain what it is let me directly quote wikipedia:
Quote: An hórreo is a granary built in wood or stone, raised from the ground by pillars ("pegollos") ending in flat stones or "tornarratas", to avoid the access of rodents. Ventilation is allowed by the grooves in its walls.

Hórreos are mainly found in Northwest Spain (though there are also in other Northern villages). There are two main types of hórreo, rectangular-shaped, typical from Galicia (*my addition: this is the kind pictured) and square-shaped from Asturias.The longest hórreo in Galicia is located in Carnota, La Coruña and is 35 m long.

There are several types of Asturian hórreo, according to the characteristics of the roof (thatched, tiled, slate, pitched or double pitched...), the materials used for the pillars or the decoration. The oldest still standing date from the 15th century, and even nowadays they are built ex novo. There are an estimated 18,000 hórreos and paneras in Asturias, some are poorly preserved but there is a growing awareness from owners and authorities to maintain them in good shape. Unquote

Mr. Mar was willing to pose for you to give you an idea of the size of the horreo we saw in Baiona . I was told the cross is meant to protect the grains. I assume this particular horreo is an old one placed in an open area for exhibition purposes, but I saw private countryhomes with smaller horreos in their front/backyard.

If you were able to read this, blogger was kind to me this friday... Hope it is kind to you too allowing you to publish your post and to leave many comments !!

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14 comments:

  1. Thanks for your visit ! It was a surprise because Blogger wasn't kind to me ! Refused to publish my blog and after an hour my internet broke down. And now it'works again and I got your email and were surprised, I just wanted to publish my blog and it was already published ! I tell you there is a goast hunting Blogger.
    That's why I quickly jump over to get my cup of coffee. Isn't that nice to hop around the world drinking, eating,and chatting ? When I go to bed I have to count the countries where I have not been ! I have never seen these herreros they are quite big. Yes, Wikipedia gives an answer to everything !
    Have a nice day !

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  2. Blogger was kind to you, my dear, and to me too...THANK GOD! My Party Post for Craziequeens Virtual, is up!!! (Thank you dear blogger.....)

    THese are such interesting buildings....And they certainly are huge! Lovely of Mr. Mar to pose for all of us! Thank him, for me, my dear Mar...!

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  3. How cool is that?!

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  4. Great pictures! And Mr. Mar is so cute! Lucky girl!

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  5. oh what you don't learn from a blog.

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  6. Very interesting, Mar! I've never seen nor heard of those. Loved Mr. Mar's "pose." So photogenic!

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  7. Very cool! Nice picture of Mr Mar.

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  8. oh those were some great pics. And it all made me laugh, great way to move onto the weekend. :)

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  9. Me gusta el mar...

    The photos are extremely cool -- I love old things!

    Wendy directed me here. :)

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  10. Well...Blogger hasn't been kind to me today. First, people weren't allowed to comment for a very short time. Then Beta blogger went down entirely...right now, no one can even get to my blog.

    I find your blog really interesting though. This post was especially educational. I am going to show it to anyone else that might be interested. :-)

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  11. As you may have guessed, I am visiting from Wendy's blog again.

    Blogger may force me to drop out of the casting call the way it is going. :-(

    But I am having fun.

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  12. Bloggers been a pain lately.

    Goodness I thought it was an above ground grave when I first saw it.

    So it's to protect grain???

    Very unique design. I'm so happy I found you on the net. I have learned so much!

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  13. What an interesting post about your Spanish store house and thanks for mentioning it at your comment on my blog about the Norwegian kind!

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