Casa Reca

Casa Reca is a historic hórreo, a traditional grain granary, standing in Hiriberri / Villanueva de Aézcoa, a small village in the Aezkoa valley in northern Navarre. It is one of the few surviving structures of its kind in the region and forms part of the valley's distinctive rural landscape.

What exactly is the Casa Reca hórreo?

A hórreo is a small outbuilding once used to store grain, keeping it safe from damp and rodents. Casa Reca follows the Pyrenean type typical of the Aezkoa valley: a rectangular floor plan, a twin-pitched roof covered in wooden shingles with almost no overhanging eaves, and walls built from roughly hewn stone. The whole structure rests on stone pillars topped with round slabs, known locally as tornarratas, which stopped rodents from climbing up into the storage space. The façade still carries carved inscriptions, a feature shared by several hórreos in this valley. Its Basque name, Reka etxeko garaia, literally refers to the granary belonging to the Reca family house, since a hórreo was traditionally built as a companion structure to the main house, using similar materials and style.

Why is Casa Reca legally protected?

The building holds the status of bien de interés cultural (an asset of cultural interest), granted on 24 May 1993, and is listed in Spain's heritage register under the code RI-51-0008239. That protection was granted to an entire group of Aezkoa valley hórreos at once, not to Casa Reca alone — an approach meant to safeguard what remains of a once much larger collection: across all of Navarre, only around 15 of the original 22 hórreos have survived. In recent years, the Aezkoa valley hórreos, Casa Reca included, have also been put forward for a broader listing that would recognise them as intangible cultural heritage, valued for their ethnographic significance as much as their architecture.

How to get there and when to visit?

Casa Reca stands within the village of Hiriberri / Villanueva de Aézcoa, at approximately 42.9454 N, 1.2310 W. The easiest way to reach it is by car along the local roads of the Aezkoa valley; Aribe is the nearest larger reference point, with a road leading further into the valley. The hórreo stands outdoors, among the village's other houses, and can be viewed year-round, free of charge and without restriction — it is a privately owned outbuilding, seen from the outside rather than entered. It's worth combining a visit with a walk through the neighbouring villages of the valley, where further hórreos survive, together forming a kind of trail of Pyrenean granary architecture.

Frequently asked questions

What makes a hórreo different from an ordinary barn? A hórreo is purpose-built and raised on stone pillars topped with round slabs that physically blocked rodents from reaching the stored grain — a feature that sets it apart from ordinary farm outbuildings.

Can you go inside Casa Reca? No, it is a private outbuilding. Like the other hórreos in the Aezkoa valley, it is viewed from the outside only.

Since when has Casa Reca been legally protected? Since 24 May 1993, when it was declared a bien de interés cultural together with a group of other Aezkoa valley hórreos.

How many hórreos of this kind have survived nearby? Around 15 of Navarre's original 22 historic hórreos remain standing, and several of them, including Casa Reca, are found in the Aezkoa valley.