The fourth phase of the Cartagena Amphitheater will cost 2.5 million euros

The fourth phase of archaeological excavations at the site of the Roman Amphitheater of Cartagena will require a budget of 2,504,428.75 euros. This is a calculation that takes into account the current production costs on site and also provides for a multi-year execution period that can reach three years. And according to the vice mayor and municipal head of Archaeological Heritage, Ana Belén Castejón, financing is assured, at least, until 2026. She said this at the presentation of the basic and execution project for the comprehensive recovery of the northwestern quadrant of the monument, the main doorway and the double ring of the southeast quadrant of the old bullring. According to Castejón, the guarantee is the protocol signed in March 2019 between the Cartagena City Council and the former Ministry of Development, currently of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, for the archaeological recovery and enhancement of the Amphitheater.

Said protocol implied the commitment of the City Council of Cartagena to the drafting of the project and the contracting of the facultative direction, as well as obtaining the authorization of the works by the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage of the Autonomous Community. Both procedures have already been completed.

The third, tendered

«The project is based on the needs of the monument itself, in accordance with the guidelines established by the Master Plan and taking into account that the start of these works will be carried out, most likely, once the project that we are currently bidding for, corresponding to 1 .5% Cultural and that will mean the opening of the monument to the public on a daily and continuous basis, thus increasing the cultural and tourist offer of our municipality, “he said.

Castejón presented this fourth phase accompanied by the team of professionals in charge of the project, made up of the architect Andrés Cánovas, the archaeologists José Miguel Noguera, María del Carmen Berrocal and Francisco Fernández Matallana, the conservator-restorer Izaskun Martínez and the director of material and Head of Safety and Health, Antonio Pérez Fernández.

«We will continue with the excavation and recovery of the stands and the arena of the Amphitheatre, with the aim of enhancing the section closest to the current Gisbert street, with which we would be able to have 55% of the interior surface of the performance building recovered, achieving the real coexistence of the Amphitheater and the bullring», according to the deputy mayor.