Benidorm joins the European Archaeology Days once again this year with guided tours to Tossal and Museu Boca del Calvari

Benidorm will once again actively participate in the European Archaeology Days, which will take place next June in numerous countries at the initiative of the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research. This was announced by the Councillor for Historical and Cultural Heritage, Ana Pellicer, who explained that for three days the focus will be on Tossal de La Cala archaeological site and the municipal museum collection housed in Museu Boca del Calvari, which has been expanded this year with the exhibition ‘Benidorm, Traces of Time’.

Specifically, the activities will take place between Friday, June 12th and Sunday, June 14th, during which guided tours and open house events will be held. This year, a new activity will be added: a children's treasure hunt at the Roman castellum of Tossal, which will take place on the morning of Saturday the 13th.

Pellicer explained that all the scheduled activities, "as in the previous four editions, will be completely free and open to all audiences." He added that once the schedules for all the activities are finalised, "they will be announced so that interested people can register and participate, thus joining this commemoration, which is now well established in our city and aims to bring the richness of our heritage closer to the general public."

Activities

The guided tours with the municipal archaeologist will take place at the Roman castellum of Tossal de La Cala as well as at Museu Boca del Calvari. The councilor for the area highlighted that this year, “in addition to the permanent municipal collection displayed in the ‘Luis Duart i Alabarta’ Archaeology Room, we are fortunate to have archaeological pieces that were also discovered in Benidorm and are housed in the Archaeological Museum of Alicante (MARQ), but which have been temporarily loaned to the City Council to be exhibited for the first time in our city as part of ‘Benidorm, Traces of Time’ exhibition, which we inaugurated last November.”

She noted that the pieces in this exhibition come from excavations carried out from 1943 to the present day in sites such as Tossal de la Cala, Abric de la Cantera de la Serra Gelada, and Torre de Les Caletes. Among them, she highlighted the three Tanit figurines (a lunar deity and Punic goddess of fertility), as well as the Iberian bull and lion head, which, thanks to this collaboration with MARQ, have also been restored.

Finally, the head of Historical and Cultural Heritage stated that the planned program “perfectly complements and offers a broad overview for all audiences of what Benidorm was, of our history throughout the centuries,” and therefore encouraged residents and visitors to participate in all of them.