Gloria (heating system)

Gloria (meaning glory in Spanish) is a central heating system used in Castile, beginning in the Middle Ages.

It is a direct descendant of the Roman hypocaust, and its feature of regulating the rate of combustion allows people to use smaller, cheaper materials for fuel, such as leaves, hay, or twigs, instead of wood.

The gloria consists of a firebox, generally located outside (in a courtyard, for example), which burns the fuel, and one or more ducts which run under the floors of the rooms to be heated.

The warm exhaust gases from the combustion pass through these ducts and then are released outside through a vertical flue.

[3] An additional benefit lies in the ability to cool the building by opening the structure without firing it.