Accesible audioguide of "Park House of Babia and Luna"
The Babia and Luna Park House - Palace of Quiñones
Track 1. The Babia and Luna Park House - Palace of Quiñones
Welcome to the Palace of Quiñones, the Babia and Luna Natural Park House.
This audio guide is divided into audio tracks containing the information about the different rooms. The end of each clip is marked by a sound like the one you will hear now, with just one to move on to the information in the next clip:
[SOUND DEMO]
And two for a change of room. [SOUND DEMO] [SOUND DEMO]
You can choose to move on to the next audio clip after the sound.
As with the other park houses located all over the region of Castile and Leon, this is the recommended gateway to these natural areas. Environmental monitors and educators welcome, inform and convey to visitors the area's many and surprising natural and ethnographic assets.
The Babia and Luna Park House occupies the former residential building of the Palace of Quiñones, an outstanding cultural monument dating back to the sixteenth century. The property, purchased by the Castile and Leon Regional Government in 1999, consists of a main building with a three-story tower on the north side, a courtyard with a garden surrounded by a wall, a small outbuilding, a chapel and some recently restored warehouses.
The palace, with a rectangular floor plan and two floors with a dividing line, underwent refurbishment that transformed the residential floors into open-plan exhibition spaces after it was purchased. The south façade has two balconies on the top floor, and the Quiñones coat of arms in the centre. Originally built in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the entire interior structure of the palace and much of the façade were restored in the 1970s by Fernando Geijo, a resident of Riolago, after a fire that had devastated the building in 1915.
The square and the surrounding area were designated a Historic Site in 1995 by the Castile and Leon Regional Government's Ministry for Education and Culture.
The facilities at the site are original, creative and educational, and designed in a way that is integrated with the building's architecture. They respect the interior structure and the width of the spaces to achieve an aesthetic harmony between the exhibition and the architectural structure.
Stand in front of the main gate of the park house. The garden and the rest of the buildings that make up the Palace will be behind you. Lying on the grass in the garden is a sculpture of a mastiff, the symbol of the house.
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Reception area
Track 2. Reception area
Go through the door that opens in the middle of the façade to enter the house. It is a wooden panelled door with an iron knocker.
To the right you will find the reception desk, and then in the right hand corner, the green store, where you can buy typical products or a souvenir of your visit.
Next to it, there is a relief model of the Babia and Luna Natural Park, accompanied by a two-dimensional map hanging on the wall. The geomorphology of the area is shown here, with its valleys and rivers.
The Babia and Luna Natural Park is an outstanding example of the ecosystems in the Cantabrian Mountain Range, with peaks of geological, ecological and scenic interest, such as the imposing limestone massif of Peña Ubiña, the Picos Albos and Peña Orniz, and the Alto de la Cañada hills. Its rich vegetation, influenced by changes in the topography and geology of the mountains, includes high mountain communities, peat bogs, wetlands and unusual savin junipers, which are home to unique endemic species. This diversity of plants means there is a wide range of fauna biotopes and abundant wildlife, including the increasingly strong presence of the Cantabrian brown bear and a high level of ornithological interest with major populations of alpine birds. Its geographical location plays a key role in the overall protection provided by the Cantabrian Mountains and in the links between the various massifs, contributing to the ecological processes that take place in the region. The area also has a significant historical and cultural value, as it bore witness to important events in the history of the kingdoms of Asturias and Leon. The Natural Park covers the same area as the San Emiliano Valley Natura 2000 Network Protected Area and the Babia Biosphere Reserve, and part of the Omaña and Luna Valleys Biosphere Reserve recognised by UNESCO.
You can find a wooden easel to the left of the map and on the left of that, there is a door leading to the temporary exhibition hall and the lift to the upper floor, where your visit begins. The lift is in the wall on the right as you enter this room. Be careful, as there may be objects in the way.
There is a corridor on the left wall, leading to the toilets at the back of the reception area on the right. The men's bathroom is on the left side of this corridor, and the ladies' is on the right. Before going down this corridor, there is another corridor where the accessible toilet is located on the left hand side.
The centre of the reception room is divided by a curved brown wall, creating a blue capsule representing the area's glacial past.
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Top floor
Track 3. Top floor
Go to the area to the left of the reception area, where there is a gap in the curved wall. Go through it and you will come to a landing with a staircase and a door leading to the audiovisual room.
Go up the stairs. There are two sections, with a landing between them. You can hold on to the metal handrails on both sides.
You can use the lift if you prefer. At the top you will come to a room that is curtained off. Go around the curtain and leave this small adjoining room until you reach the entrance of the main room, where the stairs lead up. To do this, go around the curtain, go straight ahead and go through the door. Cross the exhibition room in a straight line, between the wall on your right and the panels in the centre.
There is a very large room on the top floor where models and panels are displayed. This exhibition can give you a general idea of the main characteristics of the two regions that make up the natural park: Babia and Luna.
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Pablo Andrés Escapa
Track 4. Pablo Andrés Escapa
On the left side of the coloured panel that you will find when you enter the room, there is a black panel with white lettering, which like the other panels in the exhibition, was written by Pablo Andrés Escapa specifically for this Park House.
Pablo Andrés Escapa is a writer from Villaseca de Laciana, and he is currently librarian at the Royal Library of the Royal Palace in Madrid, where he is head of Publications and Access to Research.
This first text reads: "When the world was no more than a rumour, Babia was already nurturing absences. Whoever having come this far returns wounded with nostalgia, perhaps happy because they too, like the landscape they have walked through, will be lost with water in their eyes and the parsimony of cowbells in their ears. As they travel away, murmuring and secret, like colours that are tarnished, the traveller will renew the mystery of absence. And they will be reborn far away, to say in another world that they had been to Babia."
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The high mountain and the rock
Track 5. The high mountain and the rock
As you enter the room, you will find the first panel on your visit on the wall to your left, with the title: "The high mountain and the rock". It is a white panel with black letters and a backlit image in the centre showing one of the peaks of the Ubiñas Massif. The panel is topped with a panel cut in the shape of a mountain range, with the silhouette of a bird of prey in flight.
Its rugged and abrupt landscape, lashed by intense winds and lacking springs, makes the high mountain an environment that is only suitable for the strongest. The vegetation seems to have adapted, leaning back and consisting of shrubs growing near the ground, as well as extensive areas of grassland. The few shelters between the lofty peaks include lakes, lagoons and peat bogs, which give the landscape with its own particular characteristics.
The vegetation in the high mountains includes brooms, blueberries and creeping junipers.
On the right side of the panel there is an interactive display with a button that when pressed, lights up and talks about the vegetation growing among the stones. Although they may seem inanimate from a distance, many interesting plant communities seek refuge among the rocks in a very unstable environment.
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Giants that shape the landscape
Track 6. Giants that shape the landscape
Next, in the adjoining wall on the right, there is a gap in the wall containing two stone benches and a small window which lets in sunlight. On it is written an inscription that reads: "Ancient blue seas opened a lap of fossils in valleys where the snow lies. And that ageless memory flows in a slow river that is first scattered among the grass, careless of its origin, and then thickens so that the stars sleep in its depths, protected by bridges that cross the Luna. The moon on the Luna. Distance and time, silence and memory create the horizon for this country settled among vapours, words lit by fire and the breath of flocks."
To the right is another panel, similar to the previous one, entitled "Giants that shape the landscape", which will tell you about the erosive power of glaciers, and how they shaped the landscape in the past.
These lands of Babia and Luna are glacial in origin, as is apparent in the gentle U-shaped valleys, peat bogs and moraines.
On the left there is an interactive display that shows how a glacier sweeps away some pine trees. The trees were about 30 metres tall, but the glacier was more than 10 times taller.
In the centre, there is a wheel that can rotate to show information about four of the imprints that glaciers leave: lagoons, like lake Mata and lake Chao in Riolago; moraines, which are large ridges; cirques, which were deposits of ice; and peatlands, which are small areas of moss and other plants associated with damp environments.
There is a pedestal to the right of the panel, showing a grey and white rock and another that is more orange in colour.
Through the window panes, to the right of the panel, you can see some imposing mountains where you can see the difference in the composition of the rocks in the mountains. Those on the right are a light grey colour with darker ridges in front, showing the composition of the rock and the type of vegetation that may grow on it.
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What rocks tell us
Track 7. What rocks tell us
The next panel, to the right of the window, explains why fossils are so important. Its title is "What rocks tell us".
Fossils of corals and shells have been found in this area, which are proof that before these mountains were formed, the area was covered by a shallow sea which contained wildlife that included these types of organisms.
A black pedestal with a small window with a rock rises from the panel. When you press the button, the image changes to reveal a trilobite fossil.
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A different horizon
Track 8. A different horizon
The next panel forms a corner with the previous panel. Its title is "a different horizon".
It contains information about the first human transformations of the landscape, such as the Barrios de Luna reservoir, built in 1951.
Interestingly, a seam of Cambrian rocks around 500 million years old was discovered when the road to this reservoir was built. Many universities from Spain and other countries come here to study this seam, as it sheds light on history.
Several interactive displays are included in the panel. The first has a wheel which when it turns, provides information on how the landscape has changed with the passing of time. It begins 4,000 years ago, and continues to the present day.
Next to it, there is a sliding panel with a question: "How do scientists know that?" Lift the cover to find the answer. Today, botanists can reconstruct that distant past by studying pollen, pine cones, coals and subfossilised wood, which have been preserved in various waterlogged areas - mainly peat bogs and the remains of ancient lagoons.
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The immersive room
Track 9. The immersive room
Now move on to the immersive room that opens up in the wall.
This room with symbolic displays contains two photomontages and another two texts by Pablo Andrés Escapa.
It is a small, dark room, painted black, with black curtains. On the wall to the right, above the curtain separating the room from the lift, is a black and white mural of trees.
On the opposite wall, to the left, there are two backlit panels with images by Silvia Grav.
The first is a photomontage of the villages that were completely or partially flooded when the reservoir was built. The image shows real photographs of the villages, with a photograph of the reservoir, with the easily recognisable Fernández-Casado suspension bridge superimposed on it.
In the other montage, trees fly out of a mountain. It represents the lack of large forests in comparison to other neighbouring areas such as Omaña or Laciana. There are two main reasons for this lack of trees: the first is the altitude and the cold and windy conditions in higher regions, which prevent tall trees from growing, and only very small cushion-shaped shrubs and pasture survive. The other reason is that in the lower part of the region, where the temperatures are milder, the land is given over to pasture, as the main activity here is still livestock farming.
Between the two panels is a window with two stone benches. On the window pane there is a text by Pablo Andrés Escapa that reads as follows: "and with men and cattle coming up from the south in bleating lines, the cycles will return to impose the time of what is ephemeral: the shearlings will live in the air, the daffodils will sprout yellow, and the sun will pass leaving imprints of shade in every valley. The summer will die so that the bees are silenced. And the birds will leave before the heather turns a sunset crimson that attracts the first cold higher than the rocks. Then men will again hold their farewell between their lips. In the middle of the night they say the familiar names they will leave behind."
Now leave this area.
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The livestock owners' guild and merino sheep
Track 10. The livestock owners' guild and merino sheep
In the centre of the room, in front of you, there is a module dedicated to livestock farming, which is responsible for the lack of trees mentioned earlier. The main type of livestock in the natural park is the Spanish-Breton horse, various breeds of cows and sheep, which even today continue to engage in transhumance or transterminance, which is also a seasonal movement in a herd, but over shorter distances. They spend the colder seasons of the year in the south of the province of León, instead of moving to Extremadura.
In a dark square interactive display, pressing a button lights up the letters, and the widths of the various types of drove roads are compared.
Just to the left, in a box, you can touch some wool from merino sheep.
Next to it, there is a panel dedicated to Spanish Mastiffs, with the title "The dog in Las Meninas or the merino sheepdog", together with a picture of the mastiff painted by Velázquez in his painting Las Meninas.
These dogs were used as the main defence against two animals that caused problems for livestock farmers: the wolf and the brown bear.
Brown bears will not normally attack livestock, and will only do so if food is scarce in the mountains.
On the right, there is a question on a cover: "Why do many mastiffs have so many dewlaps?" Lifting the cover reveals the answer: it is to defend a crucial area. The shepherds also protect them with a wolf collar with sharp spikes.
Underneath, a dark panel lights up at the push of a button and reproduces the noise the animal makes. It also shows the gentle face of a mastiff, which can weigh up to 90 kilograms.
The bottom of the panel looks at the Leonese sheepdog, which is native to the Northern Submeseta plateau. It is medium-sized, with black fur and white and grey spots.
On the left, another "Did you know?" cover explains that its name comes from "carear", which is the Spanish word for guiding grazing sheep in the direction in which they are moving.
If you turn to the other side of this central module, you will find the link between mastiffs and wolves, which provides an introduction to the latter species. It presents the origins of the song of the five little wolves and the broom, which lies in the brooms of the vegetation. This livestock farming was very important, as were the sheep farming passes, which brought so much wealth to the villages in the Natural Park, as they were leased to shepherds with large flocks.
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The travelling vulture, the shepherd vulture
Track 11. The travelling vulture, the shepherd vulture
The panel on the wall focuses on wildlife.
This rocky terrain is a very demanding place for animals, including the Cantabrian chamois, a member of the goat family only found in the Cantabrian Mountains, which has adapted to the conditions here.
The right of the panel focuses on the vulture, a majestic inhabitant of the skies, which spreads its wings in imposing flights. With a keen eye from above, this bird of prey plays a crucial role in the food chain, acting as a very effective scavenger. Their presence, dark plumage and large wingspan symbolise the strength and vitality of the animal kingdom in the open skies.
To the left of the panel, there is an interactive display pedestal with a burrow that you can reach into and touch a breathing animal.
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The slopes and the middle mountains
Track 12. The slopes and the middle mountains
Next, you will find a panel in the corner that provides details and information about the flora in the area.
The ochre-coloured panel has cut-out silhouettes that stand out against the panel's white background. These silhouettes represent junipers.
Juniper trees, which can be found all around the Barrios de Luna reservoir, are very important because they are Europe's westernmost juniper forest. In theory, junipers are found in warmer and drier areas, but as they are in limestone soil and facing south, they compensate for the higher rainfall in the region by filtering water down to the subsoil. The heat from the higher levels of sunshine is also stored in this type of soil.
To the left, there is a "Did you know?" panel, When you slide the cover, you can find out how the forests rewilded the former agricultural fields, which had been abandoned as a result of depopulation and changes in livestock farming.
Underneath the silhouettes, there are several interactive buttons, which light up and show photos of junipers and more information. Next to it, there is a two-dimensional model of some broom trees, with a bear hiding behind them. This reflects the size of the broom trees, which can reach heights of up to 2 metres.
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The bears of Babia and Luna
Track 13. The bears of Babia and Luna
The silhouette of a brown bear is shown on the right side of the panel.
This animal plays a crucial role in the Babia and Luna Natural Park, acting as an indicator of the ecosystem's health, contributing to biodiversity as a barrier species, encouraging sustainable tourism, promoting habitat connectivity and preserving the rich local cultural heritage. Their preservation not only benefits the species itself, but also has positive impacts on the entire natural and human environment that shares this mountain habitat.
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Creators of landscapes
Track 14. Creators of landscapes
The next wall panel shows some of the benefits of wildlife for the flora in the region.
Insects play a key role in facilitating cross-fertilisation between different plants. They attract bees, beetles and butterflies using colourful flowers and attractive nectar, thereby overcoming the distance between each individual and enabling the pollination process to take place. This work is carried out by a wide variety of insects, including bumblebees, beetles and butterflies.
Another way animals help plants is by dispersing seeds. This happens when an animal eats the fruit and leaves the remains elsewhere, far from the tree.
In the interactive display, you can press the button and illuminate the image of a daffodil.
On the right, another "did you know?" explains how animals select the grasses they eat, leading to the diversification of species in the meadows and fertilising the grasslands.
Below it, there is a wheel with silhouettes of animals, and you have to match each animal with its food.
You may find a fox, a thrush, a bear and a jay.
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The peaceful valley floor
Track 15. The peaceful valley floor
The next panel after the window looks at breeds of cow and their importance in butter production in the last century.
This included the Leonese butter cow, which was a unique and robust native breed, highly valued for its stamina and the quality of its milk, which it produced in limited quantities, but which was rich in fat, meaning that it produced good butter.
However, in the middle of the twentieth century, the Leonese butter cow began to be replaced by a foreign breed, the Swiss Brown, due to the better financial results it provided. A project to restore the population of the Leonese butter cow is currently under way.
The local tradition of butter production led to the creation of Spain's first School of Dairy Industries in 1888.
One of the interactive displays in this panel is the wheel in which you have to match the coat of each cow with the right breed.
Next to it, a "did you know?" provides information about the names of the cows, which are usually friendly and affectionate. The most common breeds are Garbosa, Capitana, Artillera, Serrana and Estrella.
Another interesting fact about animal coats is that the colours of horses' coats are based on a mixture of three basic layers: a completely black layer, a brown coat with a black mane and tail, and a sorrel coat, which is reddish overall.
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A changing landscape
Track 16. A changing landscape
Next, after the window, is another panel with the title "a changing landscape".
The major change in the terrain is caused by the rivers and streams that flow through this region, and by the Luna and Sil rivers in particular. The waters of the Luna flow to the Duero along a very mild slope, while the river Sil descends on a much steeper slope and has a much faster rate of erosion than the gentle Luna.
Did you know that some rivers are pirates? It's true, and the Sil is an example of one. Its strong erosive power means that it has been stealing land from the Luna. This phenomenon is known as "the Sil piracy". Today its waters continue to eat away at the highlands of the Luna basin, and millions of years in the future, a large proportion of the water that flows through Babia today will end up draining into the Sil.
In the interactive display, you can move the lever, which will make the river Sil sink.
Next to it, you can put your hand in a black box and feel the heat given off by the volcanoes. There is a spring in Caldas de Luna with water that springs at 28 degrees.
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Pachuezu
Track 17. Pachuezu
Now turn around and you will find a panel that occupies the entire central part of the room. This is the cultural panel of the exhibition, which looks at the language of pachuezo, also known as pachuezu.
The panel begins with an inscription that reads: "Ageless tongue, singing on the summits and still in the meadows. It is a happy language when it names flowers and is engrossed by the fire. It goes out into the world with a delay on the palate, where it gathers luminous consonants as the sky gathers constellations. When lost in the air, it leaves a concerto of long vowels reminiscent of the echo of a flute."
Pachuezu is a local variant of the Asturleones language spoken in the north of León, and particularly in the regions of Luna, Babia and Laciana. As well as a rich oral tradition, there are also written works in the language.
Although it is similar to Spanish, pachuezu has distinctive features that make it unique. It is a Romance language that has preserved archaic characteristics of colloquial Latin and is influenced by the pre-Roman languages spoken in the region.
The use of Pachuezu has declined over the years, as it has been displaced by Spanish as the dominant language. Nevertheless, some work is being done to revitalise and preserve this linguistic heritage. Local organisations and communities work to promote pachuezu through teaching, literary and musical production, and raising awareness of its cultural importance.
It is an interactive panel in which the words change from Spanish to Pachuezu as you walk.
At the end of the panel, there is a game where you have to link the villages of the natural park to the real meaning of their names. There is also a sign with words in Pachuezu, their meaning, and the places where they are used.
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Water quality indicators
Track 18. Water quality indicators
Next, in the corridor behind the panel on pachuezu, there is another panel about three animals that are indicators of water quality.
The first is the trout. This animal needs oxygenated cold water, so having one of the most important trout reserves in Villafeliz is excellent news for the quality of the water in the river Luna.
On the panel you will find an interactive display with a button that lights up when pressed to help you work out a trout's age.
Another indicator of the water quality are the stone tubes constructed by the caddisfly larvae that live inside them under rocks on the river bed, to avoid being swept away by the current. This larva also needs very good environmental conditions to live, so it is a good indicator that water is present. It is also highly valued for use as bait in fishing.
There is a model of an Iberian muskrat in a glass case to the left of the panel. It is an aquatic species, with a body like a mole, 14 to 18 centimetres long, with a long tail like a mouse and an elongated snout with sensitive hairs. It has very small eyes so its underwater vision is very poor, so it uses the sensitive hairs on its snout to study the ripples in the water to guide it and track its prey. It has webbed feet, with membranes between the toes, but it also has claws. It is known as the platypus of the Iberian Peninsula, because its body is a mixture of parts of other animals.
A video about trout is screened in a telescope-shaped interactive display.
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Backwaters in the river
Track 19. Backwaters in the river
The panel opposite, to the left of this corridor, focuses on dams built using logs, stones and branches. Although they appear to be made by beavers, these structures are actually built by the region's inhabitants, who used them to divert water to irrigate their crops.
An interesting "Did you know?" provides more information about these microhabitats. They are extremely beneficial for some species of fish, which find the perfect home to thrive in these structures.
At the bottom of the panel, you will find an illustration of the Fernández Casado suspension bridge, which spans the reservoir. The names of the villages that were flooded to create the reservoir are listed: Arévalo, Láncara, Campo, Oblanca, San Pedro, Cosera, Miñera, Mirantes, El Molinón, Casasola, Ventas de Mallo, La Canela, Truva and Trabanco.
On the right, on the dark panel, press the button and you will see the Los Barrios de Luna reservoir, which stores more than 300 million cubic metres of water, showing the magnitude of this impressive hydraulic project.
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Seeking shelter, residents and the herbarium
Track 20. Seeking shelter, residents and the herbarium
In the corner on the left, other panels take you to the small town of Riolago, with its picturesque roof structures. If you turn to the right, you will come across birds strolling peacefully through the streets, and the edible and medicinal plants found in the area.
According to an old story, the buildings in the mountains were covered with a thatched roof known as a teito, which required constant upkeep because it was so delicate, and this job was done by people known as "teitadores".
The "did you know" on the right provides information about traditional ovens, with a vault that housed the fire for baking bread.
There are two illuminated images underneath, showing the slate-roofed huts and cabins.
In the panel with the birds, there is a wheel showing birds linked to the villages including the sparrow, the owl, the robin, the rock plane and the stork. Underneath, there is an illuminated panel on swallows and owls, two very important birds in the area.
On the right of the panel, there is a small natural herbarium with square windows, where you can smell the different plants and mushrooms.
Between these panels is a small window with a text that reads: "Snow on words. Voices by the fire. The outdoors and the kitchen breathe deeply in the fullness of winter. And a string of tales that confuse their rumour with the legend weave a string of words that demands the presence of the cold to be born. The sky opens its streams and the words fall with the snow. They are celebrated by the fire that stretches in the hearth until it sticks its tongue out over the rooftops. And the trail of smoke that cleaves the frost seems to be the path of a voice that went out into the night to call the absent."
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The journey of the stars
Track 21. The journey of the stars
The exhibition ends behind a curtain, in a corner next to the panels.
This is a dark space which lights up when you flick a switch on the right, creating a night sky full of stars, with the moon on one side.
Nights in Babia and Luna soothe the soul and fill it with peace, but it has a more pragmatic dimension: the opportunity to study astronomy in depth. The rocky bulwark of the mountains acts as a barrier holding back the waves of urban light coming from León and Oviedo.
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The colours of Babia and Luna
Track 22. The colours of Babia and Luna
After you leave this space, you will find a panel with vertical white, grey, green and orange stripes.
White represents snow. Grey is the rocks. Orange are the sunsets. Forests, pastures and scrubland are shown in green.
This panel concludes the visit. Opposite, there are stairs going up and down; the upward staircase is closed to the public.
Go down the stairs until you reach the ground floor. The door to the audiovisual room is on the right.
If you prefer to use the lift, cross the exhibition room to the opposite wall. The small adjoining room is on the left, where the lift is hidden behind a curtain. When you reach the bottom, leave the temporary exhibition hall by turning left, cross the reception area and go to a small opening on the right of the wall that crosses the centre of the reception area. The audiovisual room will be on your left as you enter this space.
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Audiovisual room
Track 23. Audiovisual room
Enter the room. The walls of this audiovisual room are illustrated with drawings of old tools including a shovel, a sickle and a jar. In the centre, there are some backless benches where you can sit and enjoy the audiovisual presentation.
Here there is a screening of a 4-minute interactive animation, with several projections and lifelike figures. The video shows a filandón. A filandón is the name given to the time of day when families used to gather around the fire to tell stories and talk, usually after dinner, while doing other tasks such as sewing or knitting.
Once the screening is over, you can continue to enjoy the outside of the palace. To do this, leave the hall and go to the centre of the wall opposite the counter, where the exit is located.
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The bar
Track 24. The bar
In addition to providing a bar service, our bar invites visitors to embark on a nostalgic journey that evokes the atmosphere of the old bar-stores and rural kitchens of the early twentieth century. This space aims to provide visitors with a warm welcome, where they can enjoy local products and immerse themselves in Babia and Luna's rich cultural tradition. It also presents valuable ethnographic content in photographs, panels and instruments related to rural life in this region.
The interior is square, with a wooden beamed ceiling, walls painted in an ochre colour, a flagstone floor and windows decorated with curtains.
When you come in, you will find the bar on the left, then several tables with chairs and two shelves consisting of square spaces where antique objects are exhibited including baskets, earthenware jars, clogs, an accordion, Leonese bowls, cauldrons, tools for carding wool, carpenters' brushes and shepherds' tools. There is an alcove above the entrance door where an old spinning wheel is on display.
The walls are lined with paintings, arranged in no apparent order. One of them also provides information on how to treat flax.
In the centre of the back wall there is a metal fireplace and several logs of firewood next to it.
If you would like to visit the bar, leave the Palace and follow the path to the left, then turn right, following the path to a large wooden double door, behind which you will find the bar.
Relax and have a drink, before moving on to the last part of the visit: The chapel.
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The chapel
Track 25. The chapel
The chapel is a separate building opposite the palace, with a façade built from stone ashlars. The semi-circular door in the centre leads inside. There is a semi-circular window above it, protected by a grille.
The interior of the chapel is square, and the walls are painted purple. Illustrations by Maite Mutuberria on this village's agriculture and livestock farming hang here. Opposite the door stands a stone altar.
Each illustration depicts a different motif of the natural park. From the beginning of the wall on the left to the end of the wall of the right, they are a tawny owl, a stork, a farmer with a sickle, a cow, a horse, water, wind, footsteps in the snow, a wolf, sheep and a mastiff.
This chapel itself is an interactive display, in which you hear sounds, which you have to match with the illustrations on the wall.
This audio clip concludes your visit to the Palace of Quiñones, the Babia and Luna Natural Park House, highlighting the rich flora and fauna, the landscape, the history, the importance of livestock and the traditions of these villages.
If you would like more information, please contact the reception desk or ask any of the staff at the Park House.
Thank you for your visit.
The Babia and Luna Park House - Palace of Quiñones
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Reception area
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Top floor
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Pablo Andrés Escapa
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The high mountain and the rock
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Giants that shape the landscape
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What rocks tell us
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A different horizon
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The immersive room
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The livestock owners' guild and merino sheep
qr-10
The travelling vulture, the shepherd vulture
qr-11
The slopes and the middle mountains
qr-12
The bears of Babia and Luna
qr-13
Creators of landscapes
qr-14
The peaceful valley floor
qr-15
A changing landscape
qr-16
Pachuezu
qr-17
Water quality indicators
qr-18
Backwaters in the river
qr-19
Seeking shelter, residents and the herbarium
qr-20
The journey of the stars
qr-21
The colours of Babia and Luna
qr-22
Audiovisual room
qr-23
The bar
qr-24
The chapel
qr-25