State of Conservation of Traditional Asturian Cideries: Living Heritage at Risk

Abstract

This article considers the state of conservation of the traditional llagar cideries in the Principality of Asturias, as part of wider research conducted in the context of a PhD thesis analyzing cider-making architecture within the six districts of the Asturian “Comarca de la Sidra” cider-making area. It presents the results of extensive field work with a great array of data that has been analyzed, sorted, and systematized comparatively both in graphic form and in tables and datasheets. The study’s conclusions are broadly unoptimistic. The progressive discontinuation of cider-making in these traditional buildings along with a lack of real measures for their protection leads the author to find this heritage to be at risk. Even so, there remain some noteworthy examples, some still in use, which are living testimony to these traditional industrial architectures.