Hórreo
Encyclopedia
Granary
A granary is a storehouse for threshed grain or animal feed. In ancient or primitive granaries, pottery is the most common use of storage in these buildings. Granaries are often built above the ground to keep the stored food away from mice and other animals.-Early origins:From ancient times grain...
built in wood (Iberia
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
, Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
) or stone (Iberia), raised from the ground by pillars ("pegollos" in Asturian
Asturian language
Asturian is a Romance language of the West Iberian group, Astur-Leonese Subgroup, spoken in the Spanish Region of Asturias by the Asturian people...
, "esteos" in Galician
Galician language
Galician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...
, "abearriak" in Basque
Basque language
Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...
) ending in flat stones ("vira-ratos" in Galician, "mueles" or "tornarratas" in Asturian, or "zubiluzea" in Basque) to avoid the access of rodent
Rodent
Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
s. Ventilation is allowed by the grooves in its walls. In some areas, hórreos are known as hórreu, horru (Asturian
Asturian language
Asturian is a Romance language of the West Iberian group, Astur-Leonese Subgroup, spoken in the Spanish Region of Asturias by the Asturian people...
), horriu (Leonese
Leonese language
The Leonese language is the endonym term used to refer to all vernacular Romance dialects of the Astur-Leonese linguistic group in the Spanish provinces of León and Zamora; Astur-Leonese also includes the dialects...
), hurriu (Cantabrian), hórreo, paneira, canastro, piorno, cabazo (Galician
Galician language
Galician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...
), espigueiro, canastro, caniço (Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
), garea, garaia, garaixea (Basque
Basque language
Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...
), orri (Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
), stabbur (Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
), härbre or more precisely stolphärbre or stolpbod (Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
), raccard
Raccard
Raccards are traditional granaries that can be found in parts of the Swiss Alps . These structures are built above ground and are supported by wooden stilts. A circular stone slab, forming an overhang, is intercalated between the stilts and the granary to prevent rodents from gaining access to the...
ou regard (French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
)
In the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
, hórreos are mainly found in the Northwest (Galicia, Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
and northern Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
). There are two main types of hórreo, rectangular-shaped, the more extended, usually found in Galicia, northern Portugal and coastal areas of Asturias; and square
Square (geometry)
In geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral. This means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles...
-shaped hórreos from Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
, León, western Cantabria
Cantabria
Cantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria...
and eastern Galicia. The oldest Spanish document containing an image of an hórreo is the Cantigas de Santa Maria
Cantigas de Santa Maria
The Cantigas de Santa Maria are 420 poems with musical notation, written in Galician-Portuguese during the reign of Alfonso X El Sabio and often attributed to him....
by Alfonso X "El Sabio"
Alfonso X of Castile
Alfonso X was a Castilian monarch who ruled as the King of Castile, León and Galicia from 1252 until his death...
(song CLXXXVII) from XII A.C. In this depiction, three rectangular hórreos of gothic style are illustrated. The longest hórreo in Galicia is located in Carnota
Carnota
Carnota is a municipality of Spain in the province of A Coruña, autonomous community of Galicia. It has an area of 66.4 km², a population of 5285 and a population density of 79.59 people/km² It is famous because of its majestic hórreo, granary, the largest one in the world. It has a barrocan...
, A Coruña and is 35 m long.
There are several types of Asturian hórreo, according to the characteristics of the roof (thatched
Thatching
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge , rushes, or heather, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. It is a very old roofing method and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates...
, tile
Tile
A tile is a manufactured piece of hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, or even glass. Tiles are generally used for covering roofs, floors, walls, showers, or other objects such as tabletops...
d, 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.
Other similar granary structures include Asturian
Asturian language
Asturian is a Romance language of the West Iberian group, Astur-Leonese Subgroup, spoken in the Spanish Region of Asturias by the Asturian people...
paneras (basically, big hórreos with more than four pillars), cabaceiras (galician round basketwork hórreo), espigueiros or canastros in northern Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, (the most famous concentration is located in Soajo), trojes or trojs in Castile
Castile (historical region)
A former kingdom, Castile gradually merged with its neighbours to become the Crown of Castile and later the Kingdom of Spain when united with the Crown of Aragon and the Kingdom of Navarre...
or silos, and Balkan hambar
Hambar
A hambar is a corn crib or small building commonly used for storing and drying maize in the Balkans and the neighboring regions in the Pannonian...
s.
The origin of the horreo is the horreum from the Roman Empire, and is an old technology that has nearly disappeared in the rest of the empire.
Härbren exist throughout Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, but the more hórreo-like härbren, raised from the ground by pillars, are only found in the central and northern part of the country. The church härbre (kyrkhärbret) in Älvdalen
Älvdalen Municipality
Älvdalen Municipality is a municipality in Dalarna County in central Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Älvdalen....
, Dalarna
Dalarna
', English exonym: Dalecarlia, is a historical province or landskap in central Sweden. Another English language form established in literature is the Dales. Places involving the element Dalecarlia exist in the United States....
, built circa 1285, is one of the oldest surviving non-religious wooden buildings in Sweden.
File:Horrero.JPG|A Galician hórreo
File:Carnota 084.JPG|Hórreo of Carnota
Carnota
Carnota is a municipality of Spain in the province of A Coruña, autonomous community of Galicia. It has an area of 66.4 km², a population of 5285 and a population density of 79.59 people/km² It is famous because of its majestic hórreo, granary, the largest one in the world. It has a barrocan...
, Galicia
File:Raccard.JPG|Raccard
Raccard
Raccards are traditional granaries that can be found in parts of the Swiss Alps . These structures are built above ground and are supported by wooden stilts. A circular stone slab, forming an overhang, is intercalated between the stilts and the granary to prevent rodents from gaining access to the...
s in Valais
Valais
The Valais is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the southwestern part of the country, around the valley of the Rhône from its headwaters to Lake Geneva, separating the Pennine Alps from the Bernese Alps. The canton is one of the drier parts of Switzerland in its central Rhône valley...
, Switzerland
File:Hórreo tipo asturiano, O Piornedo.jpg|Hórreo from Piornedo, Galicia
File:Hórreo da reitoral de Bealo, Boiro.jpg|Corn inside a hórreo, Boiro
Boiro
Boiro is a municipality of Spain in the Province of A Coruña, in the autonomous community of Galicia.It is perhaps best known as the small town where famous quadriplegic Ramón Sampedro received euthanasia...
, Galicia
File:Horreodefonseca.jpg|Hórreo from Siero, Asturias
File:Soajo - Espigueiros.JPG|Espigueiros from Arcos de Valdevez
Arcos de Valdevez
Arcos de Valdevez is a municipality along the northern frontier of Portugal and Galicia , that incorporates a territory of 447.6 km² and a total population of 24,466 inhabitants...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
External links
- Hórreo de Carnota
- Asturian hórreos
- Galician hórreos
- Horreos in English
- http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:Santa_fe_navarra_horreo.jpg