Queen’s baths archaeological park planned
Provincial president presents project for remains
AN AMBITIOUS plan costing €15 million has been unveiled to turn Calpe’s Roman coastal site into an archaeological park.
The project will be developed in three phases.
Provincial president Carlos Mazón, together with Calpe mayoress Ana Sala, unveiled a master plan drawn up by the provincial architecture department for the Queen’s Baths’ area.
The first phase on councilowned land, has a completion period of two years and an estimated budget of €7 million, which will allow the park to be opened to the public.
This will see the creation of an path consisting of walkways covering a one kilometre-long circuit.
The second stage will affect public areas such as the accesses, the promenade and the ‘Muntanyeta’ area.
Here the master plan proposes the construction of a viewing platform four metres above sea level which will be located on the promenade and allow a view of the Roman fish nurseries.
A 170-metre-long, five-metrewide footbridge will connect the promenade with the nurseries and the site itself.
The plan also includes the need to build a submerged breakwater to protect the remains of the quarries and the fish nurseries from erosion caused by the sea, something that requires permission from the national coast department .
The third stage will involve long-term action on the land currently in private hands at the archaeological site.
“Today, a dream is born,” said Carlos Mazón, who has pledged to continue promoting this project in order to complete it.
He noted that the delivery of the master plan was a new commitment to the site.
Sr Mazón stressed that thanks to the plan, it will be possible to access European funds.
For her part, Sra Sala pointed out that the event marked the culmination of ‘something that began in 2017 and that has been difficult to move forward, because it is a huge project, but the day has finally arrived’.
According to the mayoress, private land is included in the site, although ‘the action is focused on municipal land and now we need time and money’.
The archaeological site, which spans from the 1st to the 7th centuries AD, is one of the largest Roman sites on the Spanish Mediterranean coast.
The uniqueness and monumental nature of the remains make it one of the most interesting monuments preserved in the Valencian region.