On April 26, around seventy people took part in a guided tour of the cement factory in La Pobla de Segur. Organized by the association for the promotion of hydroelectric heritage Pirineus Watt, with the collaboration of RehabiMed, the visit began in the village of Sossís, where the quarry and coal mines are located that supplied the raw materials and fuel for the production of natural cement at the factory. The tour then continued to the factory in La Pobla de Segur, an industrial building from the early 20th century, constructed by the company Energia Eléctrica de Catalunya, led by Emili Riu, with the aim of producing the cement needed for the construction of the hydroelectric system in the Flamicell Valley. Afterwards, participants visited the lime kiln at Font de l’Ús, near the factory.
The visit generated great interest among participants, as it provided access to the interior of an infrastructure that had previously been inaccessible to the public and allowed them to visualize the entire production process of an essential material—cement—used to build the hydroelectric complex that drove the second leap forward in Catalonia’s industrialization more than 100 years ago. The construction characteristics of the buildings, far removed from local tradition, make it a rather unique structure, with two continuous vertical kilns and still retaining many of its original components and spaces, offering a comprehensive view of how it operated. The visited lime kiln also helped to understand the transition from pre-industrial production systems, usually local in scope, to industrial ones, without which the construction of the great hydroelectric works of the Pyrenees at the turn of the 20th century would not have been possible.
