Riotinto Mining Museum

Riotinto Mining Museum "Ernest Lluch" is a museum located in the Spanish municipality of Minas de Riotinto, in the province of Huelva, which is dedicated to the mining activity in the area and its history. The facilities were inaugurated in 1992 and are managed by the Rio Tinto Foundation. It has an important collection ranging from archaeological pieces to mining machinery and railroad locomotives.

The Museum building is the former mining hospital of the Rio Tinto Company Limited.

History
The building that houses the museum was originally designed in 1921 as a hospital for the Rio Tinto Company Limited (RTC) staff, and was used for that purpose between 1927 and 1983. In 1970 the south pavilion of the building was converted into social security.

In 1987, the Rio Tinto Foundation was created, whose objectives included the creation of a mining museum. In this context, the Rio Tinto corporation offered to cede the building of the former RTC hospital to house the headquarters of the planned museum. In 1988 the transfer of ownership took place, and two years later the restoration and rehabilitation of the complex began. The transfer of various historical materials also took place. The facilities opened their doors to the public in 1992, as part of a series of initiatives aimed at setting up the so-called Riotinto Mining Park.

Collections
The museum has sixteen thematic rooms whose historical themes range from prehistory to the end of the 20th century, coinciding with the cessation of activity that the Riotinto mines experienced at that time. Among the material on display are various collections of mining instruments and tools, some from the Roman period, archaeological remains, mining machinery, a collection of minerals from the Iberian Pyrite Belt, etc. In the basement of the museum there is a reproduction of a subway mine from the Roman period, in a commitment to interpretation. Another of its rooms is dedicated to the historic Riotinto railway and has on display a variety of material, including several steam locomotives.