The Councillor for Architecture, Carmen Sellés, visited Els Banys de la Reina in Calpe this morning to supervise the state of the works, which will allow the site to be opened to the public thanks to a subsidy from the Diputación de Alicante of 440,000 euros, 90% of the total budget.
The adaptation and implementation of Phase A of the Master Plan, which began in April and will continue until October, is a further step in this ambitious project aimed at safeguarding the enclave and promoting it as an outstanding tourist attraction of international value. Accompanied by the town's mayoress, Ana Sala, and the Director General of Cultural Heritage of the Generalitat Valenciana, Pilar Tébar, Sellés reaffirmed "the commitment of the institution and the work carried out by the Department of Architecture and the MARQ Foundation to enhance and recover the important cultural and historical heritage that we have as a province in order to make it known to the public".
The deputy wanted to give special thanks for the work of both the Architecture Department of the provincial institution, headed by the director Rafael Pérez, and the team of archaeologists and municipal technicians to enhance "one of the bastions of the Roman period on the Spanish Mediterranean coast, considered a unique treasure in the province for its uniqueness and monumentality". For her part, the mayoress of Calpe thanked the support received from the Provincial Council to move forward with the long-awaited project and make this visitable archaeological park project a reality.
The Master Plan, which began to be developed in 2019, includes the necessary actions for the consolidation of the architectural remains of the area and its rehabilitation as a site museum, as well as the management, economic study and sustainability modalities.
The site occupies a large area of land, close to four hectares. In addition to the nurseries in the area - which supplied fresh fish to the Roman villas - there are Roman remains from a broad chronological sequence that spans from the 1st to the 7th century AD. All the buildings that have been found to date formed a structured grouping in antiquity, dotted with residential, leisure, industrial and religious constructions. There are also more modern elements such as the nineteenth-century Molí del Morelló and the tuff quarry located on the coastal strip.