Points of Interest 
Museums Salt Museum
Salt Museum
Â
Â
The activity around its salt spring was for centuries "the salt of life" of Leniz; it brought about its origin and even gave it its name.
The cold and humid climate of the town did not favour the salt exploitation being done by solar evaporation, a characteristic that differentiates it from many other salt-producing towns, but rather it comes from a meticulous process of heating water with firewood.
The so-called "white gold" has been an appreciated economic asset as it possesses essential properties for human and animal nutrition, as well as its use for the preservation of food. Today more than 14,000 direct or indirect uses are recognized for it today.
The history of the evolution of its exploitation is recreated at this site, rehabilitated to show the different methods used since the Iron Age up to 1972, the date when the salt production closed because of the heavy competition from marine salt.
1. The Iron Age
There is no record of at what time human beings became aware of the existence of the salt spring and learned to take advantage of its properties, but thanks to the archaeological remains found next to the spring (a coin from the time of the Iberians, remains of Roman ceramics, salt crystals, pieces of wood...), we can be sure that in the Iron Age it was being exploited.
2. Sixteenth century. The dorla
According to a document that dates back to the 16th century, the salt mines were composed at that time of a well where the salty water was stored and eight houses –called dorlas– where eight iron cauldrons were found, of the same name, in which the salty water was poured. Thanks to the heat produced by the burning of firewood that was placed under them, the water evaporated and only the salt was left.
The production was carried out only from July to December. The rest of the year, the frequent rains considerably reduced the salinity of the spring and its exploitation was not profitable. These months of "holiday" were used to gather firewood from the lush communal forests. Today, this salt mine neighbourhood has taken the name of Dorla.
Â
3. Eighteenth century. The bucket wheels
In 1834, some devastating floods in the valley destroyed the salt mine and ended their manual exploitation. Ownership of the production passed to the company Productos Leniz, which took advantage of the reconstruction to expand the installations and introduce a hydraulic system to drain the water from the saline well –of 7 metres of depth- and channel it to one of the dorlas: the bucket wheel (of which an exact replica is in the museum).It is in this period when the actual industrial phase of its exploitation began.
4. Twentieth century. The industrial era
Around 1920, the last major remodelling of the installations took place in which the force of the bucket wheel was substituted by a motor pump that extracted the water from the saline well and took it to the tanks constructed on a knoll, above the factory level, which supplied, by gravity, four hoppers, connected together and vacuum injected, that directly evaporated the water and allowed the salt to fall to the bottom and come out ready to be drained by the centrifuge.
This significant investment, however, only managed to increase the production by 25%, reaching 728 t per year, an amount that was not sufficient to confront the fierce competition of marine salt which had lower costs but less quality. In a last effort, the factory diversified its production towards bleach and chlorine, a strategy that only slowed down the definitive closing of Productos Leniz, in 1972, in this way putting an end to more than 1,500 years of exploitation of the salt mines.
Hours open:
Hours of guided visits:
Saturdays, Sundays and holidays: 12:00 (in Euskera) and 13:00 (in Spanish)
During the week only by prior reservation:.
Tel.: 665 73 95 50
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
