Neighbors and tourists will be able to tour the old temple after the pressure exerted for years by the Virgen de la Caridad Platform before the Diocese and Culture so that the Heritage Law is complied with
The Bishopric will reopen next Monday, March 28, free visits to the old church of Santa María de Cartagena or Old Cathedral. It will do so after neighborhood and political criticism for non-compliance with the Historical Heritage Law, which requires the opening at least four times a month of buildings classified as Assets of Cultural Interest (BIC).
In a statement, the Diocese chaired by José Manuel Lorca Planes reported that the building “will reopen its doors for visits four days a month, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.” And he added that this month of March they will take place from 28 to 31 and that “the calendar for the whole year is also closed”. The days in which residents and tourists will be able to visit the Cathedral, located in the surroundings of the Roman Theater, will be the following: from April 27 to 30; May 21, 23, 24 and 25; from June 27 to 30; from July 27 to 30; August 27, 29, 30 and 31; from September 27 to 30; from October 27 to 30; on November 26, 28, 29 and 30; and from December 28 to 31.
In recent years, there have been several occasions on which the Virgen de la Caridad Citizen Platform has denounced the complete closure of the Cathedral, despite a resolution issued in 2015 by the Ministry of Culture. It has also requested the intervention of the General Directorate of Cultural Assets of the Autonomous Community and sanction the Diocese, owner of the property. The situation has also been denounced publicly and in the plenary session of the City Council by the Municipal Group MC.
The deputy mayor and councilor for Archaeological Heritage, Ana Belén Castejón, showed on Wednesday her “satisfaction with the decision of the Bishopric, because we had repeatedly reiterated to the bishop the need for the temple to open to the public.” In this way, it will be possible to continue “completing the tourist and religious offer in our municipality,” added the mayor.
There are two million from the central government
Regarding the tender for the contract to carry out the first rehabilitation works of this construction, which dates from the 13th-14th centuries and was bombed during the Spanish Civil War, the City Council will convene in a few days the contest of ideas for the drafting of the project . This was confirmed to LA VERDAD Castejón, and he expressed his confidence that “works can begin very soon, which will be financed thanks to the two million euros that the former Ministry of Development (now Transport, Mobility and Agenda Urbana), thanks to the protocol signed by both parties »three years ago now. At that time, Castejón was the mayor and the Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transport and Housing, Pedro Saura from the pachequero.
«The Cathedral has an incalculable value for all Cartagena. And for our part, once we have the Master Plan that the Bishopric has drawn up, we are going to hire the entire procedure in the coming days to carry out the ideas competition for the rehabilitation of the temple, ”said Castejón. The aforementioned plan, as this newspaper advanced in August 2021, proposes to make an investment of 5,040,169.15 euros over ten years in the restoration and reopening works. It also proposes different uses of a religious, cultural and tourist nature.
And he elaborated that “the Cathedral of Santa María is a fundamental part of our history” and that is why “we have fought hard to obtain funds for its rehabilitation since we consider that this jewel must be recovered both for its architectural, historical and emotional value”.
It was in October 2021 when the Ministry of Culture authorized “from the patrimonial point of view” the Master Plan of the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, Old Cathedral of Cartagena, This document, coordinated by the architect Juan De Dios de la Hoz , lays down the general principles that will govern the restoration of the historic building, a temple dating from the 13th-14th centuries.
Based on this guide, a detailed study of the characteristics and values of the property (on historical, architectural, artistic, archaeological, urban, religious and social levels), the Bishopric will order the construction project. And it will go to the winner of a municipal ideas competition, whose winner will have a prize of 10,000 euros.
One of the issues to be decided by the Bishopric, the City Council and the Autonomous Community will be the covering of the building. This is a controversial issue, due to the differences in criteria exhibited until now by specialists and neighborhood and political groups. The Master Plan points out two options: cover it partially and do it completely, with a minimum of 44 square meters and a maximum of 745.
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