A sample reviews where and how the waterwheels that supplied and watered Benidorm worked
The exhibition can be visited in l'Hort de Colón during the month of September from 6 pm to 11 pm
The Department of Historic Patrimony has designed an exhibition that reviews where the waterwheels were that supplied and watered the gardens of Benidorm. In the exhibition references, materials and documents have been included, ranging from the eighteenth century to beyond the Half of the XX. The exhibition, The waterwheels, traditional systems of irrigation in Benidorm' has been made mainly with material from the Municipal Archive - part of it from the funds donated by Edelmiro Trillo and the family Llorca Casanueva - and with pieces given for the occasion by Eusebi Chiner .
The exhibition can be seen during the month of September from 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm in l'Hort de Colón, as informed by the Councilor for Historic Heritage, Ana Pellicer, who today has visited the exhibition with the mayor, Toni Pérez.
In addition to explaining the traditional systems of water extraction, the sample includes historical references to irrigation by waterwheels and rafts extracted from books written by travelers, botanists and geographers who visited Benidorm in the 18th and 19th centuries, such as Antonio José de Cavanilles or Pascual Madoz. Next to these panels are exhibited pieces that incorporated these hydraulic machines, like the water vessels that were placed in the waterwheels or the harness that carried the animals that turned the wheel.
The exhibition includes several panels with maps and photographs that collect the points in which these waterwheels - or 'sénies', in Valenciano - were located, which were counted by tens, some of which are located in central streets of Benidorm today. Even photographs showing some of these waterwheels have been recovered. Among them, an image on glass in emulsion of albumin dated between 1911 and 1914, part of the collection of Edelmiro Trillo, shows a 'sénia' in the area of Rincón de Loix.
The councilwoman explained that "the Department of Historical Heritage has done a magnificent work to recover that photograph, which is now exhibited for the first time after the fragments that were preserved from glass negative of that snapshot". Once rebuilt the negative and printing the image "it was necessary to locate this waterwheel, for which it has been determinant another photograph donated by Edelmiro Trillo".
Finally, municipal documents have been rescued from the City Council regarding 'les senens' or in which they are referred to as the Police Ordinances of 1866 and 1907.
