In 2009 eleven historic mills that were built on the banks of the Guadalquivir River as it passed through Córdoba, were declared Andalusian Historical Heritage strong> and since that moment, municipal organizations have not stopped working with the aim ofvaluing these old hydraulic infrastructures, rehabilitating them and in some cases, providing them with museum use for be able to recover these spaces. A good example of this is the management carried out by the Municipal Institute of Environmental Management of Córdoba, in charge of the Martos and San Antonio Mills, which carries out numerous related activities with scientific dissemination and environmental education, in addition to carrying out guided tours of its facilities
The set of mills declared Andalusian Heritage are Hispano-Muslim works built between the 8th and 11th centuries with the aim of serving aswater mills, infrastructures that produced flour, or as dedicated fulling mills to hit the fabrics with clubs to tuck the wool, in both cases,using the hydraulic energyproduced in the river naturally or through of weirs, small dams that enhanced this force. After the Christian conquest by the troops of King Ferdinand III in the year 1236, these mills became property of the church < /strong> and some noble families from Córdoba. In the 19th century after the religious confiscations, they were managed by individuals until artisanal milling was prohibited in 1942. Since then, some have operated as hydroelectric plants and others began to fall into the deepest abandonment.
Theseeleven mills are known as theAlegrí a - currently houses the Museum of Paleobotany inside the Botanical Garden -, the one of Albolafia - built by order of Abd al-Rahman II to transport water to the Palace of the Emirs, it has been part of the city's coat of arms since the 14th century -, those ofPápalo and Enmedio -hidden behind the vegetation of the protected natural area of the Sotos de la Albolafia -, that of San Antonio - it was a shipyard for the construction of the barges that crossed the Guadalquivir and today it functions as a cultural space with exhibition halls -, those of San Lorenzo and San Rafael -they also served as a paper factory-, the de Martos -headquarters of the Hydraulic Museum-, and in the upper part of the river are located the three The latest, that of Lope García, Carbonell and Casillas.