Portal de Lorca
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The Regional Government allocates 171,729 euros that are added to the broad battery of actions for a total of 1.4 million contributed by the Government of Spain, CARM, European Union and City Council.
The Mayor of Lorca, Fulgencio Gil, together with the Minister of Culture of the Regional Government, Miriam Guardiola, has supervised this morning the progress made in the conservation, repair and improvement works that are being carried out in the Patronal Sanctuary of the Virgin de las Huertas, a tour that has counted with the presence of the President of the Employers' Brotherhood, Isabel Giménez, and the Father Guardian of the Convent, José Hernández Valenzuela.
The Mayor explained that the works that are currently being carried out are focused on securing and improving certain lower areas of the temple, laying the foundations for its maintenance and conservation.
This improvement includes several different actions;
On the one hand, a buff camera is being built with the objective of avoiding the humidities that usually appear in this type of monuments due to weather conditions and the degradation of materials through the passage of time.
On the other hand, work is being carried out by the company responsible for the works in the elimination of dampness also in the antechamarín of the Virgen de las Huertas.
The third action, the most visible, is the strengthening and restoration of the main facade, a task that can be seen from the exterior of the convent, specifically from the Plaza del Rey Sabio.
The First Edil has indicated that after the earthquakes of 2011 has been running a battery of emergency interventions, consolidation and improvement for a total value of 1.4 million euros.
The main interventions were the stitching of cracks in the main arch of the presbytery and the dismantling of the arches of all the arches on which the dome is supported, the repair and sealing of the cracks of the dome, also in vaults, arches and throughout the interior From the temple.
We also proceeded to the elimination of metal downspout in the northwest corner wall, repair of cracks and painting, restoration of paintings of the apse and reintegration of the crucifixion, as well as restoration of the main dome and installation of lighting (LEDs), repair and replacement of rusted metal beams of the crypt of the chapel of the Counts of San Julián, rehabilitation of the belfry and archaeological excavations on the continuity of Islamic remains of the basement.
After this first phase of consolidation of the patron sanctuary as well as the Franciscan convent of Las Huertas, the Institute of Cultural Heritage of Spain financed new works of rehabilitation of the monument.
These works also allowed to highlight the importance of the new paintings found in the side chapels, an Islamic wall, a lobed arch that the experts date between the late 10th and early 11th centuries and an arch from the Christian era.
The findings of the subsoil were musealized and works were carried out in the crypt of the Counts of San Julián.
The works that are being undertaken currently have a budget of 171,729 euros contributed by the Autonomous Community under the Master Plan for the Recovery of the Heritage.
At first it was the Ministry of the Interior and the City Council, thanks to the European Solidarity Fund, who made an emergency action of € 291,806.09, which was completed with another intervention of the aforementioned Ministry for an amount of € 141,270.5 .
The Ministry of Culture picked up the witness, which expanded the restoration work with an investment of nearly € 800,000 divided into two phases.
At present works are being carried out financed by the Ministry of Culture for an amount of 170,000 €
The Minister of Culture recalled that "this building is one of the restored buildings with the collaboration of the Ministry of Culture, and included in the Master Plan for the Recovery of Cultural Heritage of Lorca";
and stressed that "it is a building that became the image of devastation, since the media picked up live the fall of part of the tower, and now, about to be fulfilled seven years of the day in the that the earthquakes happened, is also an example of the recovery of a city in which we have all been involved ".
From the Community, close to 25 million euros were invested in the funds provided by the European Investment Bank (EIB) in the recovery of Lorca's assets.
The restoration of practically all of the buildings declared of Cultural Interest (BIC) has been completed, as well as more than 80 percent of the listed buildings (grade 1 and grade 2).
The support of the Community allowed the recovery of emblematic buildings such as the Collegiate Church of San Patricio, numerous churches, the Palace of the Garden of Ruano, the Archaeological Museum and the Fountain of Gold.
The Master Plan for the Recovery of the Cultural Heritage of Lorca contemplates the total investment of more than 64 million Euros and it is, Guardiola recalled, "a reference of good practices and an example of speed and efficiency that counted with the involvement of the three administrations and that has been awarded by important entities such as the Hispania Nostra Association and studied in national and international forums ".
The Franciscan convent of Nuestra Señora la Real de las Huertas was built at the end of the 15th century (it was the first settlement of the Franciscans in Lorca), but the flood of 1653 destroyed it almost completely.
The current Virgen de las Huertas church-sanctuary was completed in the mid-eighteenth century, becoming one of the most outstanding religious constructions Lorca.
It was disentailed in the nineteenth century and plundered during the Civil War.
The paintings of the church, the dressing room of the Virgin and the staircase of the Tota Pulcra are of great interest.
In this convent the historian Cánovas Cobeño and the counts of San Julián are buried.
On September 8, the feast of the patron saint of Lorca, the Virgen de las Huertas, is celebrated, which tradition points to as the image brought by Alfonso X el Sabio in 1244, when the city was conquered.
Source: Ayuntamiento de Lorca
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