Las Médulas is a natural environment that is considered one of the most singular in Spain.
Therefore, it was declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997 and Natural Monument in 2002.
Originally Las Médulas were a mining site. Considered the biggest gold mine built by the Roman Empire, it was abandoned in the 3rd century after extracting 800,000 kg gold.
Thereafter, the native vegetation began to gradually cover the hills of red sand. These hills were formed in Roman times by turning over the interior layers of the earth. Thus, they created galleries in which they injected pressurized water with which they crumbled the slopes of the mountains, bringing the mineral to the surface.
The result is an environment with a beautiful landscape in which the ground has been shaped over time in fanciful reddish formations that contrast with the green of the forest that partially cover them.
There are some spots of great beauty such as the lake of Carucedo (it is believed it was made up of stagnant water during mining) or the viewpoint of Orellán, from which you can get a good view of this peculiar environment of the province of León.