Rediscover traditional gypsum: Territory, traditional architecture and rediscovery of traditional gypsum Belén González-Sánchez 1 , Antonia Navarro Ezquerra 1 , Manuel Julià Comas 2 , Judit Ramirez-Casas 1 and Mariana Palumbo Fernandez 1 1 Department of Architectal Technology, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya Av. Doctor Marañon 44-50, 08028 Barcelona (Spain) antonia.navarro@upc.edu 2 Architect and archaeologists, Center for the study of gypsum (CEG) Carrer Major, 23, 08750 Molins de Rei (Spain) Abstract In the region of La Segarra, in the province of Lleida (Spain), there is a geological formation of the Oligocene age, called the "Talavera Gypsum Formation". The traditional buildings located in this area are built with this material, and its use ranges from ornamental elements to complex and structural construction systems. Within the traditional patrimony of the area, we can find in a generalized way the use of gypsum in defensive towers, churches, castles and private houses, among other patrimonial elements of the territory. In this article, some representative buildings of the area are analysed, indicating their geographical and geological location. Moreover, with the aim of obtaining a material suitable for future restoration of La Segarra region’s built heritage, and by extension, of all the heritage built using this material, a traditional gypsum furnace was built, the firing temperatures within the furnace were monitored during the firing process, and the product obtained was characterized by mineralogical. Keywords: Traditional architecture, gypsum, construction systems, materials, territory, built heritage. 1 Introduction As architectural constructions have progressed, increasing in simultaneously and reducing the thickness of their walls, building materials have also changed. In fact, there is still a debate about if architecture has conditioned the search for new building materials, or if the finding of these has contributed to the evolution of architecture. Up to the 20th century, the construction use of materials and the architectural techniques was linked to the resources available in the near territory, which explains why, in the built heritage, the same material is used in a wide diversity of construction systems (La Spina, 2016).