La Alianza industrial complex is situated in the very historic centre of Puente Genil (Cordoba, Spain), on the left bank of the Genil river. For more than five hundred years it has been a place of technological evolution in relation to the use of water as a power supply, and now, since the Town Council has purchased it, it is the centre of a program of recovery, which will enhance its value. The significance of such a place means that it is well worth an interdisciplinary approach, in which, through the methodology of industrial archaeology, all its aspects receive attention: architecture, engineering, archaeology and the culture of water combine in this preliminary and summarized historical review.