S.A. Mirat, also known as Grupo Mirat (Mirat Group), or just as Mirat, is a Spanish

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

founded in 1812 in Salamanca, dedicated mainly to production of manures and

fertilizer A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

s. Nowadays it is one of the 100 biggest companies in

Castile and León Castile and León ( es, Castilla y León ; ast-leo, Castiella y Llión ; gl, Castela e León ) is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain. It was created in 1983, eight years after the end of the Francoist regime, by the merging of the ...

and the biggest one in the

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

sector in the province of Salamanca. Its commercial activity is focused on

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. Its trademark Vitaterra is the largest Spanish

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ran ...

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...

manures and fertilizers. The factories and

structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

s of Mirat is the only well conserved

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

of the industry of Salamanca from the 19th century. The interior of the factory contains the remains of the Convent of Nuestra Señora de la Victoria (Our Lady of the Victory) of the 15th century, which belonged to the Order of Hieronymites.

History

Apuntalamiento Fabrica Grupo Mirat Salamanca

The origins of the company began in 1812, the year in which

Gregorio Mirat Gregorio is a masculine given name and a surname. It may refer to: Given name * Gregorio Conrado Álvarez (1925–2016), Uruguayan army general and de facto President of Uruguay from 1981 until 1985 * Gregorio Álvarez (historian) (1889–1986), ...

installed a

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets ...

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

in Salamanca (

). Afterwards, different lines of the business were developed. In 1841 his son

Juan Casimiro ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, ...

was born, he would be very important in the development of Mirat. In 1853 Gregorio introduced his son into the business, and later the factory was called "Mirat e Hijo" (Mirat and Son). Juan Casimiro applied knowledge acquired on his trip to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and in 1876 the company started to export abroad. The same year, in 1876, the factory was moved near to the

river Tormes The Tormes is a Spanish river, that starts in Prado Tormejón, in the mountain range of Gredos, Navarredonda de Gredos, province of Ávila. It crosses the provinces of Avila and Salamanca, ending at the Duero river, at a place known locally as Am ...

to the

Convent of Saint Jerome A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican C ...

. In 1881,

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

, which was important for ironing clothes started to be produced. During this time it turned into the one of the first factories of Salamanca that began to use

steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

as a motive power. Also at their disposal was one storehouse near to the old main square that in 1902 Casimiro decided to use for reconstruction and build some small hotels. That is why even now that place is known as "Avenida de Mirat" (Avenue of Mirat). In 1933 the company began to work as a cooperative association and in 1963 they begin to produce compound manures. The building of the factory of Mirat is the only well-conserved industrial

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

of the 19th century in Salamanca.

Convent of Nuestra Señora de la Victoria

Inside the workshops of the factory there is the Convent of Nuestra Señora de la Victoria (Our Lady of the Victory) which belonged to the

Order of Saint Jerome The Hieronymites, also formally known as the Order of Saint Jerome ( la, Ordo Sancti Hieronymi; abbreviated OSH), is a Catholic enclosed religious orders, cloistered religious order and a common name for several congregations of hermit monks livi ...

, which was founded in 1490 and after 3rd centuries of prosperity was destroyed by

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

troops during the

Peninsular war The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

. After unsuccessful industrial experiences that demolished the main part of the building the area finally fell into Mirat family hands. They then organized the production of manures using a religious part of the building that was, still is, in good condition. The

still has remains of the

wall A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including: * Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the supe ...

s, cellars and some parts of the old convent. Between the remains stands a huge vaulted

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

of 3 meters by

Juan de Álava Juan de Álava (1480-1537) was a Spanish architect best known for his stonework produced in the Plateresque style. Life Juan de Álva was born in 1480 in Larrinoa, a locality of Zigoitia, Álava to a family of stonemasons. In 1502, de Álva tr ...

(designer of the Casa de las Muertes (House of Death), of the College Fonseca and of the "Seven Emblems of the University of Salamanca") and some others stone

emblem An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and '' symbol'' are often use ...

s. The flues, the

workshop Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the only ...

s of the 16th century, high arcades of

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

s and arches complete the testimony of the

industrialization Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...

period.

Divisions of the Group

Bodega Valdeviñas Mirat Langa Ribera del Duero

*Fertilizers *Seed *Division of

gardening Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants as part of horticulture. In gardens, ornamental plants are often grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants, such as root vegetables, leaf vegetables, fruits ...

: Vitaterra, Vitaterra Nature, Mas Plant. Vitaterra is the largest Spanish

of garden manures and fertilizers. *Wineries Valdeviñas: Mirat, Tinar, Torrelanga. *Agricultural machinery *Fuel Distribution *Bus lines *Service points *Plant health.

Gallery

Image:Dependencias Convento Jeronimos Grupo Mirat Salamanca.jpg, Old premises of the Convent of Our Lady of Victory. Image:Interior dependencias Convento Jeronimos Grupo Mirat Salamanca.jpg, Inside the old buildings of the

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

. Image:Puerta Barroca Monasterio Jeronimos Grupo Mirat Salamanca.jpg, Detail of an 18th-century

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

door inside the workshops. Image:Monasterio Nuestras Señora de la Victoria Jeronimos Salamanca Grupo Mirat.jpg, Detail of an

above the monastery, probably work of

References

Bibliography

* Martínez Frías, José María (1990), ''Monasterio de Nuestra Señora de la Victoria - La orden Jerónima en Salamanca'', Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca. * García Figuerola, Miguel (2010), ''S.A. Mirat - 160 años de publicidad fabril'', Museo del Comercio y la Industria de Salamanca. * García Figuerola, Miguel. Ordóñez, María. Zoder, Mark (2012), ''El Barrio de Mirat - Legado de un industrial salmantino'', Museo del Comercio y la Industria de Salamanca.

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.mirat.es/ Manufacturing companies established in 1812 Agriculture companies of Spain Manufacturing companies of Spain Spanish brands