Lectures: Social projection of the archaeological heritage of Cartagena

The conference of the Professor of Archaeology of the University of Murcia, Mr. José Miguel Noguera, and the Director of the Museum of the Roman Theatre of Cartagena, Ms. Elena Ruiz Valderas, aroused great interest and attracted a large audience to the Marq on Wednesday 16th May.

The Marq's Assembly Hall was well attended on the occasion of the conferences dedicated to the social projection of Cartagena's archaeological heritage, lectures organised within the framework of the cycle "Conferences at the Marq, which the Alicante museum dedicates to archaeological heritage, and held to coincide with the exhibition at the Marq of the piece "Roman mural painting of the Villa de la Quintilla".from the Municipal Archaeological Museum of Lorca (Murcia).

The papers "The Molinete Archaeological Park: a laboratory for the re-encounter of a millenary city". y "The Roman theatre as a driving force for the city's dynamisation". attracted not only an audience interested in the recovery of great ancient monuments, but also professionals dedicated to public works, town planners, restorers and architects, since, as was made clear in the presentations, the recovery of archaeological areas has contributed significantly to the improvement of the urban environment of the historic centre of the city of Cartagena.

With the exhibition of the interventions in the archaeological park of El Molinete and the Roman Theatre, José Miguel Noguera and Elena Ruiz Valderas showed, once again, that the museumisation of these archaeological sites has brought significant social and economic benefits to the city of Cartagena.

Announcement of the call

The MARQ will host two conferences on the social projection of the archaeological heritage of Cartagena on Wednesday 16 May at 18:00. During these talks, the social and economic benefits of the museumisation and enhancement of the archaeological sites of the Molinete and the Roman Theatre of the city of Murcia will be analysed.

On the one hand, José Miguel Noguera Celdrán, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Murcia, will give a lecture entitled "The Windlass Archaeological Park: a laboratory for the reencounter of an ancient city", while Elena Ruiz Valderas will talk about the Museum of the Roman Theatre of Cartagena, a complex which she directs, as a driving force for the revitalisation of the city.

In recent years, the recovery of major ancient monuments and extensive archaeological areas, as well as the provision of outstanding museum infrastructures, have changed the image of Cartagena. This has generated great attractiveness for the tourist sector and, consequently, the generation of wealth, as well as contributing to the improvement of the urban environment of the historic centre of the city.

These two conferences analyse two of the most important cases recently carried out in Cartagena and show that the museumisation of archaeological sites is an activity from which social and economic benefits can be obtained.

These conferences are part of the line of collaboration that the MARQ maintains with other Spanish archaeological museums, especially those in the Region of Murcia. In this regard, the hall of the Alicante complex currently houses the exhibition of the fragment of a Roman mural painting from the villa of La Quintilla, in Lorca, recovered by the MARQ Restoration laboratories, after the significant damage suffered as a result of the earthquake of May 2011.