La diversidad tipológica de los hornos tradicionales de calcinación de yeso en España

The aim of this article is to present a first typological classification of the great variety of traditional gypsum kilns that are still conserved in Spain and that have been used for the production of powdered gypsum historically. Following the “Study of traditional gypsum in Spain” for the Spanish Cultural Heritage Institute and subsequent research, it has been possible to locate, visit and mesure an outstanding number of gypsum kilns, which are currently in disuse except for specific cases. In all of them, the calcination process has been based on the same principle, the dehydration of gypsum stone, but they present constructive, morphological and functional differences as a whole that have been analyzed in detail. In addition, the achieved results show the existence of typological variations at a geographical level as well as differences in the kilns’ load and the production output.