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The Provincial Government will start this year the restoration work on the Roman Forum of Lucentum with an investment, through the Financially Sustainable Planof 400,000 euros. This was announced this morning by the president of the Diputación de Alicante, César Sánchezat the ceremony of transfer of the ownership of Tossal de Manises to the institution by the State.
"This is an ambitious project and a firm commitment to our culture that will definitively transform this archaeological site and place it among the best in Europe, both in terms of conservation and technology."He thanked all those involved in promoting the site over the years for their work. He also had a few words of recognition for the Swedish archaeologist Solveig Nodstromwho at the time stopped the bulldozers from intervening in the area.
The event, led by the deputy for Culture and EducationCésar Augusto AsencioThe event was attended by the Government Delegate in the Valencian Community, Juan Carlos MoraguesSánchez and the delegate of Economy and Finance in the province signed the transfer documents together with Sánchez, Antonio Rodríguezand the director of MARQ, Manuel Olcinaor the head of the architecture department, Rafael Pérezamong other authorities.
The president of the Diputación de Alicante has also insisted that ".Lucentum is an icon of our past and an opportunity for our future."and has qualified that "the transfer of its ownership to the provincial institution will result in greater scientific, social and research benefits, while ensuring its continuity.". On this point, Sánchez said that ".we want to resume, from the area of Culture, the development of a quality cultural programme for the summer months that includes concerts, theatre or opera, an opportunity for the enjoyment of the thousands of tourists who visit us.".
For his part, Juan Carlos Moragues thanked the Diputación for its work over the years and its involvement in the improvements, investment and musealisation of the site, which he described as "architectural, monumental and historical jewel of the province, the Comunitat and Spain.". It has therefore insisted on the importance of their preservation as unparalleled tourist icon and as a global benchmark.
History of the Tossal de Manises
Powerful walls, wide streets, dwellings, warehouses and cisterns ensured the habitability of Lucentum in the 3rd century BC. The Alicante Provincial Council has supervised since its inception the work of consolidation and museumisation through MARQ. More than 27 years of work, as recognised by the president ".in which we have been in charge of excavating and transforming this Roman city into one of the most important sites in the Valencian Community, on a par with the most renowned in Europe.".
With an extension of 4.2 hectares -roughly the equivalent of fifty football pitches, the park retains all of the Roman walled city and has the declaration of Bien de Interés Cultural.
The archaeologist and writer from Alicante Antonio VarcárcelThe Count of Lumiares carried out the first investigations relevant at the end of the XVIIIth centuryalthough it was not until 1931 when the Provincial Monuments Commission began with the excavations that uncovered the first streets, baths and walls. Precisely this was part of the origin of the Archaeological Museum of Alicantewhich was created to house the artefacts recovered from the site, and the beginning of a relationship with the Provincial Government which has now been consolidated by taking over ownership of the land.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the urban pressure enclosed the Tossal de Manises and frustrated the efforts of the Diputación de Alicante to acquire the land. However, in 1973 the State succeeded in expropriating the plots in the hands of private individuals and delimited the area, as we know it today.
From 1990 onwards, excavations were resumed and the MARQ undertook a extensive recovery and enhancement project of the archaeological remains, in collaboration with the Architecture Department of the provincial institution. After the consolidation of structures and actions on the perimeter to protect the area the aggressive urban environment, at the end of the 1990s an ambitious project materialised for its museumisation. The main objective was to turn the site into a space intelligible to the non-specialist public and to bring the reality of this important patrimonial legacy.
Among other actions, a visit itinerary The site was made as similar as possible to the original to facilitate the understanding of the urban form but, above all, barriers were removed to facilitate the accessibility as far as possible. Also the museumisation acted on a case-by-case basis in the buildings and complexes The aim is to highlight their architectural typology, emphasising the elements that help to understand them and supporting the action with the installation of information boards along the route.
A complex security system completed the actions to recover the enclave that had been opened in July 1998. This was the culmination of the first archaeological site in the Comunitat Valenciana on a par with the most important archaeological sites in the region. recognised in Europeboth for the visitor-focused infrastructures as well as for the work of research and conservation connections.
