Lime ovens

The construction of the fortresses would not have been possible without the auxiliary industries that furnished the materials for their edification. Coral stone found near the city was generally the preferred material for construction in Cartagena; notwithstanding, limestone was a […]

The construction of the fortresses would not have been possible without the auxiliary industries that furnished the materials for their edification. Coral stone found near the city was generally the preferred material for construction in Cartagena; notwithstanding, limestone was a determining factor since it was the primary material for obtaining lime, the indispensible element in mortar.

The beds of limestone were exploited by means of quarries and since the transformation of stone into lime requires baking at high temperatures, numerous furnaces grew up on the islands and in the territories near the bay. Today there are more than 40 furnaces with different characteristics and in different states of conservation, Barú and the island of Tierrabomba being the places with the highest concentration of furnaces near Cartagena.