Huermur denounces that “a resource from the Councilor for Culture leaves Murcia without the first BIC cemetery in the Region”

The Association for the Conservation of the Heritage of the Huerta de Murcia (Huermur) “deeply regrets that the opportunity has been lost for the municipality of Murcia to have the first cemetery in the Region of Murcia declared an Asset of Cultural Interest BIC, and thus join to the rest of the cemeteries of Spain that already hold this cultural and therefore tourist recognition.

«The Ministry of Culture of the Region of Murcia has used the appeal filed by the Councilor for Culture, Pedro García Rex, to annul the opening of the cemetery of Nuestro Padre Jesús de Murcia, from the 19th century, as a Site of Cultural Interest BIC , with the category of monument, which was produced in the Official Gazette last December after Huermur’s request,” they point out from the agency.

Huermur denounces that «the Ministry of Culture has carried out the annulment of the BIC without having requested the mandatory and mandatory reports from the consultative entities of the Region of Murcia, such as professional associations, universities and royal academies, thus skipping the numerous precedents existing administrative and the own Law 4/2007 of Cultural Patrimony».

The conservation entity regrets the “short-sightedness and incoherence of the Councilor for Culture, Pedro García Rex, and asks the mayor, José Antonio Serrano, and the rest of the councilors of the Murcia City Council if they support what the Councilor for Culture of the Consistory, if they agree with the actions of the mayor and against the cemetery being a Site of Cultural Interest BIC». For this reason, Huermur is going to send “a formal letter to the mayor, the mayors of the City Council and the rest of the councilors of the corporation sending them the information and documents.”

Huermur opposed the Councilor’s appeal before the Ministry of Culture, alleging that he did not have the agreement of the Governing Board or the Municipal Plenary, or even the mayor’s signature to oppose the BIC protection of the cemetery. On the other hand, “a report was provided by the Councilor for Health and the head of the Municipal Health Services, indicating that during the time in which the cemetery has been protected as a BIC, burials, exhumations, and tasks have continued to be carried out. of maintenance without the initiation as BIC having caused any problem”.

Huermur requested «the protection of the cemetery in October of last year, given the high historical, cultural and social values ​​of this property that has 135 years of history, since its foundation in 1885 after a serious cholera epidemic. Values ​​that the city council of Murcia itself had been emphasizing for several years in guides, publications, press releases, agreements and study grants».

The cemetery houses dozens of pantheons, tombs and funerary spaces of great historical and heritage interest, both of relevant figures in the history of Murcia, and of families with economic levels that allowed them to build buildings that are preserved as a page of Murcian history. some in serious risk of disappearance, as indicated by the association. «The streets of the cemetery of Nuestro Padre Jesús are pages of the history of Murcia, witnesses of its architecture, its society, its history and its evolution, framed by a monumental façade that houses a relevant portico, as well as a coat of arms of the municipality and various columns, reliefs and inscriptions”, they assert.

Architects of the stature of Pedro Cerdán, Marín Baldo and Justo Millán Espinosa left their designs on the premises. Inside there are graves as unique as that of the businessman Peña Vaquero (made of iron) and that of the Erades family, as well as specific areas for the burial of infants, Muslims, and non-Catholics.

Finally, Huermur is already considering presenting a contentious-administrative case against the annulment produced, and also appreciates that in the judicial procedure the mayor, the councilor for culture, authorities, technicians, officials, and those responsible for Culture and the Ministry are called to testify.