The Management Building, otherwise known as the “castle”, is located in a dominant position at the north-east entrance to the town of Ingurtosu, along the road from Montevecchio. Its large arch, which overlooks the road, constitutes a sort of symbolic gateway to the mining village.
The building, which was built in neo-medieval style around 1870, under the direction of the German engineer Hoffmann, has architectural features that clearly recall the Northern European construction tradition.
Built on several floors, it housed the administrative and technical offices of the mine. The offices were distributed across the various floors following a sort of social hierarchy: at the bottom were the offices of the employees, on the upper floors were the offices of the director and vice-director (third floor), and finally, on the fourth floor was housed the entire family of the director.
The dominant position of the castle was meant to symbolize the power of control that the directors exercised over their employees, since from here they could observe the work being carried out in the mine undisturbed.
The entire building, with its neo-Gothic mullioned windows, is very austere and paradoxically gives the surrounding area a submissive aura: this is how the poor miners' homes appear, mostly shacks built with schist stones.
Source Arbusturismo.it