Benitatxell's struggle to protect the dry stone walls Benitatxell's struggle to protect the dry stone walls
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Benitatxell's struggle to protect the dry stone walls

August 29 from 2022 - 15: 35

The City Council of El Poble Nou de Benitatxell is determined to protect its cultural and architectural heritage at all costs. And one of the most characteristic elements of the rural landscape of the municipality and, in general, of all the towns of the Marina Alta are the dry stone margins.

This construction technique was declared, nothing more and nothing less, as Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO at the end of 2018; and thanks to the granting of a subsidy of 9.984,92 euros by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, the council will carry out an action to recover and preserve this construction on a municipal plot in the Les Fonts area.

The project contemplates not only the recovery and restoration of the existing dry stone margins, which are in a state of deterioration due to the abandonment of crops and lack of maintenance, but also of the olive trees, carob trees and vineyards that still remain in these terraces. In addition, informative panels will also be installed explaining the dry stone technique, the traditional rainfed agriculture of the area and the importance of its conservation.
And it is that, apart from the main objectives of the action, which are the recovery of the municipal historical-ethnological heritage and the enhancement of this technique, we want to make this heritage element known through cultural and educational tourism routes , both with the visitors and with the students of the Santa María Magdalena school.

"We want to turn this space into a recreational area for the dissemination of traditional rainfed agriculture and the dry stone technique, which will also serve to create an open-air space where residents and visitors can take walks and sports activities touring its trails", pointed out the Councilor for Culture, Heritage and Tourism, Víctor Bisquert, who also highlighted the importance of "knowing our origins as a people to value and preserve jewels as important as these".

The area of ​​Les Fonts is an area rich in this type of landscape of cultivation terraces and dry stone walls. Until the sixties of the last century, El Poble Nou de Benitatxell was an eminently agricultural town, in which the cultivation of vines, carob trees, olive trees and orange trees predominated, which were irrigated by wells that honor the toponymy of the starting point and the proximity of the Pous de l'Abiar construction complex.

Also noteworthy in this area are infrastructures such as the Planet, an area of ​​rich land for planting vegetables; the Caseta del Marqués, one of the oldest buildings in the municipality (probably from the end of the XNUMXth century), or the Les Fonts irrigation canal. In addition, the new Biosaludable route has recently been inaugurated, which runs through these same lands and is one more complement to value the local agricultural heritage through hiking routes.

Comments
  1. Maria says:

    I look at the terraces separated by those stones that were taken from that same place, leaving the land ready to carp, my great-grandfather's hands bled, my grandparents used to tell me when I was little. Regards

  2. gentleman tone says:

    I think it is a wonderful initiative, although I would like the Riurau buildings to be added to this initiative as well, which appear totally abandoned in highly visible places in the town. They look abandoned. They are also part of our heritage.


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