The Provincial Council of Alicante plans to begin the transformation of the La Pobla Medieval de Ifach site into a museum during this legislature, where on 3 August the XVI excavation campaign promoted by the MARQ will begin, which in this edition will focus on consolidating and documenting the archaeological remains found to date.
The President of the Provincial Council, Carlos Mazón, accompanied by the Mayoress of the municipality, Ana Sala, visited this important archaeological site yesterday, where he said that "we want to transform this site, through its museum use, into a place that is not only visible, but that can be visited and is profitable for Calp and its growth, becoming an essential complement to its offer of sun and beaches.
"Sooner rather than later, during this legislature, we will be able to enjoy it, not only from a historical point of view, but also from a tourist point of view," said the Provincial Council's chairman, who pointed out that this transformation into a museum will receive all the economic, technical and human support of the Alicante Provincial Council, through the ¡Architectural Abbey8¡lung, headed by the deputy Juan Francisco Pérez Llorca, and through the MARQ and the Cultural Area, headed by the deputy chairman and member of Parliament Julia Parra.
In this sense, the Mayor expressed her gratitude "for the good harmony and collaboration" of the institution "which has always been committed to this place", while at the same time highlighting the importance of the Pobla de Ifach, which he described as unique for its location, "to diversify the tourist offer of the municipality".
On the other hand, Pérez Llorca, who during his visit requested the Generalitat's participation in the project of converting this site, located on the slope of Peñón de Ifach, into a museum, announced that at the end of this year the institution would present the City Council with the master plan for the Banyets de la Reina site in the municipality, in order to enhance this unique space. The Provincial Council's investment in this study, which plans the actions and strategies to be developed, amounts to 30,000 euros.
XVI Excavation campaign
Under the direction of the archaeologist of the MARQ, José Luis Menéndez, seven students from the Universities of Alicante will participate for a period of four weeks, starting in August, in the 16th campaign of excavations of medieval La Pobla, promoted by the Museum of Alicante in collaboration with the Calp Town Council and the Penyal d'Ifac Natural Park.
In view of the situation created by the Covid crisis19 , preventive measures have been taken to ensure the safety of the participants in this campaign. In this way, the number of volunteers has been reduced - in other years it was around thirty - without reducing the area programmed to ensure interpersonal distance. The start of the campaign was postponed for a month and all the staff were provided with protective equipment and tools for each person, which are not transferable to other members of the excavation.
On this occasion, the work will focus on the documentation and consolidation of a series of tombs in the cimeterium or necropolis located next to the church of the medieval city. In addition, work begun in 2018 will continue at Ifach West, where last year the western gate, the second access system to the city, was discovered. This year, the work will concentrate on documenting the foundation phase.
As progress is made with the results of this campaign, the comprehensive topography of the site will be updated, including a new topographic base with contour lines, as well as the new structures that will appear during the campaign and a new aerial photo report of the completed sectors of the site.
In addition, the topography of the medieval Castellet de Calp site will be prepared as a complementary documentation to the study of the medieval occupation of the Calp cadastral area. It is also planned to carry out, together with the Department of Geodesy of the University of Cádiz, a 3D geo-radar survey in various areas of the site that have not yet been surveyed (mainly Ifach Este and Ifach Norte) in order to establish the existence of possible habitat structures.
In addition, the vectorization and assembly of the plans of building No. 6, church, street 1 and north gate of the site, corresponding to the 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 campaigns, will be carried out. Radiocarbon dating is also expected to be carried out on a cartographic record of building No. 6 in La Pobla de Ifach.
Work will also continue on the creation of the Interpretation Centre of La Pobla de Ifach, a permanent museum space that will be located in the Natural Park.
Calp Tourism Strategic Plan
On the other hand, the chairman, who also visited the town hall, gave a very positive assessment of the Strategic Plan for Tourism 2020-2030, which was drawn up by Calp Town Council. In this regard, he pointed out that "it is a great technical document that is courageous, ambitious and forward-looking", and announced the support of the Patronato de la Costa Blanca.