Castalla invests 142,638 euros to restore the medieval wall and adapt the hermitage of La Sang

• The project, of a biannual nature, has a maximum grant of 40,000 euros from the Regional Ministry of Tourism of the Generalitat de Catalunya
• The aim of the initiative is to recover the town’s heritage so that society can enjoy it by the end of 2021

Castalla Town Council is working on the project to adapt the west façade of the hermitage of La Sang, archaeological excavation, consolidation and heritage signposting of La Vila, which includes the recovery of the old medieval wall of the town. This is a multi-year plan, covering the years 2020 and 2021, with a total budget of 142,638.37 euros.

The councillor for Tourism and Heritage, Maite Gimeno, stressed “the political commitment of the government team to enhance the value of the castellut heritage, in this case the area of the chapel, the part of the Vila located inside the walls and the old medieval wall, following the line marked by the Musealisation of the Castle and other interventions with the same objective”. In this sense, the councillor stressed the desire to “recover our heritage so that our citizens can enjoy it”.

The first part of the project has been carried out during 2020, with work costing 20,999.83 euros. The remaining 121,638.54 euros to reach the total of 142,638.37 euros will be carried out in 2021, before 30 November, the deadline for justification. However, health and weather conditions permitting, the intervention is expected to be completed by the summer, as the work is progressing at a good pace.

For its part, the Consistory has received 40,000 euros from the Department of Tourism of the Generalitat, within the aid plan for local entities of the Valencian Community aimed at improving the competitiveness of tourist resources and destinations, the maximum possible for this programme. Specifically, the aid is divided into 5,888.97 euros corresponding to 2020 and 34,111.03 euros for this year’s work.

The councillor in charge of Tourism and Heritage explained that “these interventions are also beneficial for all the shops and hotels in our town, because all the people who come to visit our historical heritage, such as the Castle, which is open from Tuesday to Sunday, also take the opportunity to visit the establishments and discover our gastronomy”.

In addition, Gimeno has detailed that, for the moment, “in the excavations in the part of the Vila that was not on the surface, different mouldings and pieces with decorative plant motifs have been found, dwellings from the Christian period and a large building whose function is unknown at the moment, next to the medieval wall, which is already beginning to take shape”.

As the research of this project progresses, the findings will help to better understand the castellut heritage of the Vila intramural, delimited by the wall, and to recover this part of history so that society can get to know it.