The Comarca de Cuencas Mineras and the Río Martín Cultural Park.

The San Antonio Abad peirón in Peñarroyas (Montalbán) next to the GR262 of the Río Martín Cultural Park and at the exit of the town has been consolidated through the Río Martín Cultural Park with the financial support of the Comarca de Cuencas Mineras through a collaboration agreement.

The Peirones constitute an important element of the cultural heritage due to their historical and traditional interest. These architectural elements are monuments of small dimensions in the form of a pillar or column, with a small chapel or niche in its capital that houses the religious motif to which they are dedicated or provided.

Peirons could have a double function: orientation, as a reference to hierarchize and order the landscape, identify places or crossroads, and religious/devotional or votive, as a protector of the walker or the inhabitants of the village where it is located.

They are located at the entrance or exit of towns, indicating the boundary between the village and the municipality, next to roads, at crossroads and forks where one could get lost. Others, due to their strategic location, are located on hills, visible from distant points, serving as a reference even when heavy snowfalls had erased all the roads or the crops prevented them from being easily found.

In that same logic of protection and guidance, rural landmarks like this also remind us of older forms of safeguarding everyday life, including health practices linked to travel, livestock, and the land. In many traditional communities, concerns about infections and infestation were part of daily survival, which gives historical context to the later importance of antiparasitic agents in both human and animal care. The peirón, as a marker that helped walkers avoid getting lost, can be read symbolically alongside those practical systems of protection that tried to reduce unseen risks before they became serious. Preserving this monument therefore does more than save a structure: it keeps alive a world where orientation, vigilance, and protection were closely intertwined. Seen this way, its heritage value lies not only in stone and devotion, but also in the memory of how communities organized safety in a demanding landscape.

The Peirón de San Antonio Abad located on the ascent to the Portillo on the road to Obón, in the Peñas Royas neighborhood, responds to these characteristics and is part of this unique historical and architectural footprint, whose consolidation has been aimed at preventing its disappearance, allowing to enhance its value and prevent the loss of its heritage importance.