/ Town Hall
Tuesday 23rd October 2018
THE CALVIÀ TOWN HALL AND THE CONSELL DE MALLORCA SIGN THE ADMINISTRATIVE CONCESSION THAT WILL ALLOW THE REHABILITATION OF SES PORQUERES TO CREATE A MOUNTAIN REFUGE INTEGRATED IN THE XARXA DE REFUGIS DE LA RUTA DE PEDRA EN SEC
The rehabilitation and adaptation of the building designed by the Town Hall will be carried out by the Consell de Mallorca with financing of the Sustainable Tourism Tax
The mayor of Calvià, Alfonso Rodríguez Badal, and the insular regional minister for Environment, Sandra Espeja, have entered into the administrative concession of ses Porqueres building of the Galatzó public estate for its upgrade and adaptation as a mountain refuge and its subsequent integration into the Xarxa de Refugis de la Ruta de Pedra en Sec, managed by the Consell. As of today's signature, the Town Hall grants the insular institution with the administrative concession for 30 years of the exclusive and normal use of ses Porqueres building for the Consell to carry out the works and the subsequent refuge management.
Ses Porqueres is a group of buildings attached to each other and various annexes, which were built at the beginning of the 20th century for the public estate's agricultural-livestock exploitation. This set is located 15 metres east of the main building -les cases de possessió de Galatzó-, and has a total constructed area of 1,111.28 m2.
The refuge, whose reform project has been designed by the Town Hall, will have a total capacity of 52 places in the sleeping area, as well as a small snack-bar area, a home for the person in charge of the facility's operation and a multifunctional space, in addition to an outdoor terrace.
The project to enable a mountain refuge for hikers in the public estate of Galatzó represents an investment of € 1,410,683.97 from the 2017 annual plan of the Sustainable Tourism Tax funds, and aims to improve, expand and facilitate the access of the citizenship to nature, being ideal for the overnight stay of hikers that pass along the route GR-221. Thus, the refuge network in the Serra de Tramuntana is increased, the access to the knowledge of natural and ethnological heritage is brought to the citizens and thus, the practice of an ecological and sustainable tourism is promoted. All this, with the ultimate goal of promoting the heritage preservation.
The deputy mayor for Urban Planning, Economy and Commerce, Marcos Pecos; the councillor for Commerce, Natural and Urban Environment and Heritage, Francisca Muñoz; the Town Hall's general director of Urban Planning, Housing and Environment, Jaume Carbonero; the insular director of Environment, Josep Manchado, as well as the municipal technician heads of the Natural and Urban Environment Department, Eduardo Cózar, and the Heritage Department, Manel Calvo, attended the concession's signing event.
Visit to the public estate's traditional kitchen
At the end of the signing event, they visited the traditional kitchen that has been recently renewed and that has opened to visitors, along with the other facilities that are open such as the clastra (interior patio), the tafona (oil press), the chapel and the gardens, amongst others.
The Galatzó kitchen (14 metres long by 5.50 metres wide) is an example of a typical possessió kitchen that the passage of time and its continued use have caused numerous changes in its original configuration. Amongst the elements that can be seen with the recent reform are a stone sink and some accessory items such as a pastera where the bread was kneaded, the trunk where the meat was handled, or typical tableware, amongst others.
