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The mayor of Cartagena, Ana Belén Castejón, has asked the Directorate General of Cultural Assets of the Autonomous Community, the adoption of urgent protection measures for Villa Calamari, at the same time that she has sent a report to the Ministry of Culture in which it is indicated the advanced deterioration suffered by the building and its surroundings, declared to be of cultural interest.

In the letter sent to the Autonomous Community last April 23, the mayor gave an account of the report issued by the Heritage Coordination of the City of Cartagena, on the current deterioration of Villa Calamari, also known as Palecete Versalles.

The report was based on the inspection visit carried out on April 16, 2019, accompanied by the guard of the owner company Inmobiliaria Vano SL, and included graphic documentation of the fall due to rain and wind on April 22 of 70 meters from the perimeter wall, so that it was requested that the appropriate measures be adopted immediately to avoid the continuous deterioration and pillage of both the buildings and the gardens of said monument.

The report also recalled that after continuous complaints about its unfortunate conservation, on July 17, 2015, the General Directorate of Cultural Assets had issued a resolution with a series of urgent measures among which were the closing of gaps, the placement of struts in the service area, the repair of perimeter fencing, and the cleaning of the garden to avoid the accumulation of dry plants that favored the fires, which have not been sufficient to stop their deterioration;

Since then they have continued to produce uncontrolled entries to the site and the plundering and destruction of its ornamental elements, as has been verified since then by municipal technicians in successive inspection visits.

REPORT TO THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE

On April 17, the City Council sent the Ministry of Culture a detailed report on this cultural interest property declared in May 2012 and carried out by the architect Víctor Beltrí in 1900.

In it, it was detailed with abundant graphic material the lamentable current state of the building, subjected to continuous fires, acts of vandalism and plundering for years.

It was also pointed out that the measures proposed both by the General Directorate of Cultural Assets and by the property have not been fulfilled, since the perimeter fence has destroyed areas which allows the passage to the interior of the site with great ease;

the door of the building is open facilitating access to the interior and the garden accumulates dry weeds everywhere.

All this leads to the conclusion that the deterioration of the protected building is manifest and the measures implemented in 2015 by the DGBC, as well as the sporadic measures that have been carried out subsequently by the owners, are clearly insufficient to stop the systematic plunder to which the property is subject. .

Source: Ayuntamiento de Cartagena