Public Washing Areas Route

Public laundries in the towns of Jaén

Description

Public washhouses are part of the popular culture of the villages in Jaén province. For many years these places were used to wash regular clothes, work clothes and other garments such as sacks andbales used for the olive harvest.

These places were also meeting points where people talked and shared their life experiences.

They were the most visited places by all women in the village. It was their time to meet, where social relationships were established and there was no social-class discrimination.

Before the public washhouses were built, laundering was done in natural washhouses such as streams and rivers near the village.

Current public washhouses started upon the addition of modest sinks and other simple restructuring to the fountains and drinking troughs where women used to wash the clothes. Later on, public washhouses became important social areas in themselves.

Dating these buildings is very complex but they appeared at the end of the 19th century. However, the majority of them belong to the first half of the 20th century and many were built during the Franco dictatorship.

Public Washhouses in Jaén are a vivid testimony of our origin, our culture and our history.