Virtual Recovery of Agricultural-Industrial Heritage. A Case Study: The Olive Oil Mill of Gines (Andalusia)

When we talk about olive oil, it is inevitable to talk about southern Europe, Spain, and Andalusia. Olive oil is one of the most important productive resources in Mediterranean countries. Throughout more than two thousand years of this activity, a complex socio-economic network has developed from its forms of cultivation, harvesting and milling. There is an ancient and rich building tradition centered on the cultivation and processing of this plant species, the specific constructions of the olive grove and its technical procedures. Today we are faced with perhaps one of the most far-reaching landscape transformations in Europe: the landscape of the olive grove. In the first third of the 20th century, milling systems underwent a significant change marked by the installation of complete mills manufactured by metallurgical and mechanical construction companies which made a decisive contribution to the mechanization of both agricultural production and the agri-food processing industry. These foundries sold and installed complete mills in the case of oil mills. Hacienda Santo Angel, Gines (Seville), is an 18th-century olive plantation located in the center of the village of Gines. With a surface area of 3,700 m2, it is one of the most important surviving examples of an olive plantation located on urban land. The machinery of the Santo Ángel mill is undoubtedly the greatest of the treasures it houses, due to its importance and its state of conservation. This study is part of the recovery of the industrial agricultural heritage in Andalusia (Spain), focusing on the Hacienda del Santo Ángel and the virtual reconstruction of the mill machinery.