In 1901 Eusebi Güell and other partners founded in Barcelona the cement company called Companyia General d’Asfalts i Pòrtland, S.A. (Asland), launching the construction of the cement plant at the spot called Clot del Moro, in the municipality of Castellar de n’Hug. The factory, inaugurated in 1904, was an exceptional industrial building designed in all likelihood by the great architect Rafael Guastavino. It is considered a Modernista building because it follows a stepped concept, allowing the force of gravity to be put to advantage in the process of manufacturing cement from the limestone of the upper part of the mountain, and also because it features the use of “Catalan vaults” and wrought-iron structures.

The Asland Cement Factory closed down some thirty years ago. The remains that may be seen today still highlight the spectacularity of one of the most remarkable manufacturing facilities of the Catalan industrialisation, in a unique natural setting.

The factory has now become the Asland Cement Museum of Castellar de n’Hug and belongs to the Science and Technology Museum of Catalonia (mNACTEC) system. It is a dynamic place that allows one to become acquainted with Catalonia’s first industrial cement complex, featuring an Interpretation Centre and an external route through the plant’s fascinating industrial ruins.