Apat

Apat is a historic granary, known locally as a hórreo, belonging to the Casa Apat farmstead in Aria, a village in the Aezkoa Valley in northern Navarre, Spain. It belongs to a small group of timber-and-stone granaries still standing in this corner of the Pyrenees and is one of the recognisable features of the village's rural landscape.

What is the Apat hórreo?

A hórreo is a traditional raised grain store built on stone pillars, designed to keep harvested grain safe from damp and rodents. The Apat granary has a square floor plan and a wooden-shingled, two-sided pitched roof. The whole structure rests on stone pillars capped with round stone discs, called tornarratas, whose job is to stop rodents climbing up the vertical supports. This building method, found across several villages of the Aezkoa Valley, kept grain dry and secure despite the valley's damp mountain climate.

Why build it this way?

Raising the granary off the ground and separating it from the pillars with a round stone cap served two purposes at once: keeping rising ground moisture away from the stored grain, and blocking rodents from reaching it. Stone pillars with disc-shaped caps are a solution seen across the northern strip of the Iberian Peninsula, but the Aezkoa Valley preserves one of the densest clusters of this granary type in all of Navarre.

What protected status does Apat have?

The Apat granary was listed as an asset of cultural interest (bien de interés cultural) on 24 May 1993, under heritage identification code RI-51-0008221. That listing covered most of the surviving granaries in the region, as Navarre's authorities recognised them as physical evidence of the valley's older farming way of life.

Are there other granaries to see in Aria?

Aria is one of the few villages in the Aezkoa Valley where more than one such granary has survived. Alongside Apat, granaries still stand at the Jauki, Etxeberri and Jamar farmsteads. Across the whole valley, 15 of Navarre's 22 known hórreos remain standing, making Aezkoa the best place in the region to see this type of structure. Walking between several granaries in the same village makes it easy to spot small differences in construction — roof proportions, the number of supporting pillars, or the finish of the protective stone discs.

How do you get to Aria and see the granary?

Aria sits in the mountainous part of Navarre, inside the Aezkoa Valley, reached via local roads leading into the Pyrenees. The Apat granary, like the other hórreos in the village, stands on private farmland, so it is best viewed from the outside while respecting residents' privacy. A short walk through the main part of the village is enough to take in several of the granaries, since they stand close together.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Apat hórreo? It is a traditional grain granary raised on stone pillars at the Casa Apat farmstead in the village of Aria, listed on Navarre's register of cultural heritage assets.

When did it receive heritage protection? On 24 May 1993, as an asset of cultural interest, under identification code RI-51-0008221.

Are there other similar granaries in Aria? Yes — besides Apat, granaries also survive at the Jauki, Etxeberri and Jamar farmsteads in the village.

Can visitors go inside the granary? No, it stands on private farmland, so visits are limited to viewing it from the outside.