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Vernacular architecture in Mallorca

Sínies and molins de sang (animal-driven wheels and mills)

At a glance

Machines moved by an animal. The sinia raises water from a shallow well to water the garden. The molí de sang grinds grain (or olive) with the same animal…

Architecture and engineering
Vernacular architecture in Mallorca
Two men next to a windmill and in the background the city of Palma de Mallorca
Two men next to a windmill and in the background the city of Palma de Mallorca — Desconegut, Arxiu Fotogràfic del Centre Excursionista de Catalunya (sense declaració al registre; la c, Memòria Digital de Catalunya – Arxiu Fotogràfic del Centre Excursionista de Catalunya (afceccf)

What is

Machines moved by an animal. The sinia raises water from a shallow well to water the garden. The molí de sang grinds grain (or olive) with the same animal force. «De sang» = blood: animal, not wind or water.

##Com works

  • Sínia: a mule or a donkey spins in a circle. A gear moves a vertical wheel with a chain of cadufos (arcaduces) that go down empty and come up full: the principle of the hydraulic rosari. The water falls into a channel and from there to the safareig or the furrows.
  • Yield: about 4 m³/hour, enough to irrigate 1 hectare (Mayol, Mètode 118, citing Rosselló Verger).
  • A constant animal and person were needed. Blinders were put on the animal so it wouldn't get dizzy.
  • Molí de sang: useful where there is no regular wind or current. Less performance, but simple mechanism and available energy: it was the most widespread type.

Elements and vocabulary

  • Sínia, Cadufo, Roda, Sènia (variant), Pou, Safareig, Síquia
  • Sínia Valenciana: iron model that replaced the wooden ones a century ago
  • molí de sang, mola, tafona (oil mill, also animal traction)

History

  • Word documented in Catalan since 1054, from the Arabic sāniya (Viquipèdia). In the Maghreb, saniya (Mayol).
  • Ramon Llull already mentions it in the 20th century. XIII (Mayol).
  • The king of Mallorca had a sinia in the garden of his castle in Perpinyà in 1340 (DECAT).
  • A century ago, many wooden and deciduous sinies became iron (valencianes).
  • In the 1950s, windmills had already replaced almost all the windmills in l'Horta de Palma.
  • Molins de sang: in the 19th century. In the 18th century there were 120 in Llucmajor alone (Rosselló, via Viquipèdia). Many possessions had theirs.

On veure'n

  • Remains in farms in Pla and in l'Horta de Palma (inventory to be done; to verify visitable examples).
  • Museu de Mallorca – Etnològica Section (Wall): collection of rural life (check if it exhibits information; check). Tab .

Stat

Almost completely out of use. There are pits with their animal passage ring and loose pieces. Risk: they disappear when urbanized or become garden ornaments without explanation.

Why is it design

Machine on the scale of the animal and the garden: a person, a mule, a hectare. Lesson: appropriate technology, measured according to the available resource. It is proximity design .

Avui architecture

No architectural reinterpretation identified. Living link: the Associació Tracció Animal recovers implements and draft animals (Última Hora, 2022), although focused on the plow.

For the project

  • Atlas: animation of the hydraulic rosari (falls that go up and down).
  • Participatory inventory of wells with sinia in a municipality.
  • Link with windmills , which replaced them.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sínies and molins de sang (animal-driven wheels and mills)?

Machines moved by an animal. The sinia raises water from a shallow well to water the garden. The molí de sang grinds grain (or olive) with the same animal…

Sources

Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.

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