The Ethnographic Heritage of Somiedo

Human activity and its integration with the natural environment are the most important part of the biosphere reserve. The most visible example is the rich rural architectural heritage. The broom-thatched teito huts and the corros (stone buildings with corbelled stone roofs) form the most important collection of vegetable-roofed structures in Western Europe and are an outstanding example of using locally available materials. Once used as dwellings and now as livestock shelters, they remain the most characteristic image of Somiedo.

The Olleras (otcheras) are another singular and unique feature of the reserve. Used as cool stores, well-preserved examples of these buildings still exist and are well worth a visit. Hórreos (raised granaries) and mills complete the rich cultural heritage of the Somiedo Biosphere Reserve.

In the Somiedo valleys you can see herds of cattle grazing calmly — still managed as they were centuries ago, moving up from the valley to the highland pastures in a short-range transhumance to take advantage of the rich summer grasslands, and returning to the valleys as winter approaches and conditions worsen. It is in these highland pastures that the brañas and majadas (shepherds' encampments) are found.

Special mention must be made of the vaqueiros de alzada — a social group dedicated to livestock herding who moved their homes to accompany the herds on a longer transhumance route, from the coastal municipalities where they wintered to the Somiedo highland pastures where they fattened the cattle in summer. Also involved in muleteering, they suffered centuries of marginalisation from the rest of the population and developed their own culture and customs, traces of which remain in the landscape and folklore.

The Somiedo Ecomuseum consists of several interconnected sites centred on rural life, expressing the ways of living and behaviour of rural society. In the village of Caunedo, there is an exhibition on transhumance and a display on the traditional crafts of the Reserve; in the village of Veigas, three broom-thatched-roof houses are shown as they were when they were inhabited.