The organizer of the meeting denounces that the site is full of weeds and that the Consistory has not given him permission to clean it
“An absolutely scandalous situation that is the result of premeditated obstruction by the Murcia City Council.” This is how Julio Navarro, an archaeologist from the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), defined the “jungle state and total abandonment” in which the surroundings of Castillejo de Monteagudo are found, a fundamental piece of the fortresses of Ibn Mardanis -known as the King Lobo– where the remains of his almunia or recreational farm are located.
Navarro explained that more than a year ago he requested the relevant permits from the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and the Murcia City Council to be able to clean the area – which was the subject of archaeological excavations during 2018 and 2019 – and that next Friday they will visit a One hundred experts from all over Spain and from countries such as Italy, Germany, the United States and Morocco who will participate in the conference ‘Al-bustān: aristocratic estates and the construction of the peri-urban landscapes of Al-Andalus and Sicily’. “While the Autonomous Community authorized us to carry out the cleaning tasks, we still have not had a response from the City Council, despite being aware of the situation,” the researcher stressed about what he considers “a blockade” by the current government team of the roundabout.
“Empty” of the City Hall
“Being from Murcia, I wanted to value our archaeological heritage with this congress, even above cities like Granada, but I could never imagine that I would find this vacuum on the part of the municipal administration,” Navarro lamented two days later. that Murcia becomes the epicenter of world archaeology.
A hundred experts from the United States, Germany, Morocco and Italy will visit the King Wolf recreational estate
From the Murcia City Council they assured that they have not ruled due to “an administrative error” that caused the file to end up in a department that was not responsible for the management and that they are “waiting for the report of the municipal archaeologist, which will be will write as quickly as possible. A response that does not convince the organization of the congress or the head of Monteagudo, David Campoy, who branded the “abandonment” suffered by the town as “shameful”. “When the Socialists were in opposition, they filled their mouths saying that municipal heritage had to be protected and now that experts from all over the world are going to come, it is inadmissible that they take a bad image of Murcia.”
“Crown jewel”
The results of the excavations carried out in the Castillejo de Monteagudo, where the remains of the almunia del Rey Lobo are found, will be analyzed during the congress. An enclave that Julio Navarro described as “the jewel in the crown of medieval and Islamic Murcia” and that will be the protagonist in the scientific meeting organized by the CESIC School of Arab Studies, which will be held on October 6 and 7 in the Culture Classroom of the Cajamurcia Foundation and will culminate on Saturday 8 in the Royal Room of Santo Domingo de Granada, since it is an appointment with a double destination.
“The experts will study, from a historical and archaeological perspective, the past of the peri-urban almunias, with such emblematic examples as the Generalife in Granada, the Castillejo de Monteagudo or the Genoardo in Palermo, in Italy,” according to Navarro. In this sense, he explained that the congress will offer visits and conferences given by international researchers of the highest level, including historians, archaeologists, art historians, philologists, architects, landscapers, restorers, botanists, cultural managers, teachers and other professionals. , which “will delve into the analysis of peri-urban estates, given their economic relevance and the value they had as a sign of ostentation and power”.
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