Heritage of Mercury. Almadén and Idrija

Two towns supplied most of the world's mercury: Almadén in Spain, worked since antiquity, and Idrija in Slovenia, where the liquid metal was discovered in 1490. Their quicksilver crossed oceans to refine the silver of the Americas, binding the two mines into one of history's great intercontinental trades. Idrija keeps its mercury stores, miners' quarters and even a miners' theatre; Almadén its castle and mining ensembles. UNESCO inscribed the paired sites as a World Heritage property in 2012.