Benidorm remite a Conselleria el proyecto de consolidación, excavación y musealización del Tossal de La Cala

The Department of Historical Heritage directed by Ana Pellicer has already referred to the Ministry of Education, Research, Culture and Sport the project of intervention in the archaeological site in Tossal de La Cala which proposes the consolidation, excavation and musealization of the Roman 'castellum' of the first century before Christ. This project is valued at 498,020.56 euros and 50% financed with European funds from the line of grants for the protection or recovery of the Valencian cultural heritage of the ERDF Operational Program 2014-2020.

This project has been written in collaboration with Feliciana Sala, Professor of Archeology at the University of Alicante and co-director of the seven excavation campaigns conducted in the site since 2012 organized by the Department of Historical Heritage.

The councilor of the area explained that "the new project proposes to act on the entire surface of the site, especially on the western plot where last year archaeologists located the central street of the 'castellum' and in which the visible remains allow to deduce the existence of a set of buildings very similar to those already located in the excavated part of the fort. " In addition, "plans to consolidate and restore the masonry walls of the rooms of the 'castellum' and the canvas of the wall, following the same operation that we already used in the emergency works of consolidation of the site made between the end of 2017 and the beginning of this year".

Pellicer advanced that "the first works on the ground are going to focus on the elimination of vegetation, to subsequently excavate and consolidate several rooms."

The mayor stressed that "this is an ambitious project, because it will allow us to start to musealize El Tossal in order to value this heritage and make it accessible to citizens". In this sense, it is planned to rebuild the main road of the 'castellum'; identify the different rooms, differentiating the use each one had with colored gravel; reconstruct a room or room thematizing it to show what military life was like at the time of the Sertorian wars; and signaling the site with informative and informative posters.

Pellicer stressed that "this project is the confirmation of our commitment to preserve and show our historical heritage that in the case of 'castellum' also has a very important scientific value since this site is the one that has contributed the most information to archaeologists on the structure and functioning of the Roman forts of the republican era ". "So much so," she added, "that according to the experts, when the works are finished, the archaeological site will become one of the few references of the republican Roman military architecture of the conquest of Hispania."

Together with the project, the City Council has sent the Conselleria the specifications that will govern the public tender for the selection of the company that will be responsible for the work, which have an execution period of eight months.