The Mayor presents the book “Calvià, Patrimonio Cultural”, which gathers in two volumes, the municipality´s artistic-historical heritage, and the book "Galatzó para todos" (Galatzó for all), at the Book Fair

Calvià, Cultural Heritage.

The Calvià Town Hall has given one more step forward within the development of its Heritage Plan with the edition of the book Calvià, Patrimonio Cultural (Calvià, Cultural Heritage), which gathers in two volumes, the municipality´s historical-artistic heritage and which has been presented, by the Mayor Carlos Delgado; Jaime Martínez, secretary general and treasurer of the Foundation Calvià 2004 and by the municipal archaeologist, Manel Calvo at the Book Fair, this morning.

The Calvià Town Hall promoted said Heritage Plan with a double objective. On the one hand, broaden the heritage offer in order to offer a variety of possiblities to the Calvià visitor and on the other hand, complement the image as tourist destination with quality and with improvement policies such as sustainability and the diversification of the offer in order to increase the actions, which would help both, the all year round tourism and the tourism of quality.

In this sense, Calvià´s committment with both, sport and sport tourism, has turned into a 21 million euros investment, in order to achieve a first level, sport facilities network. Amongst them, outstand the athletics track and the natural turf football pitch, located in Magaluf and the rugby pitch in Son Caliu, as well as 6 indoor swimming-pools and 8 football pitches.

And to this sport practice and with the aim of diversifying even more the tourist offer, Calvià also has become a municipality, pioneer within the development of a tourism, respectful with the environment, with the acquisition of one of the most emblematic public estates on the island: the Galatzó public estate. The work carried out during the last past five years, since the estate became public, is compiled in a book, recently edited by the Town Hall, Galatzó para todos (Galatzó for all), present at the Calvià Town Hall´s stand in this Book Fair and also presented by the authorities, today.

To this action and with the same finality, are followed, between many others, the creation of Calvià Birding, with the delimitation of 16 itineraries of ornithological importance or Calvià Hiking as a new destationalisation product through which hiking is promoted with 16 proposals which conjugate the practice of a sport activity with a cultural, natural or historical added value.

In this section, it is to be highlighted, also, the new natural itineraries which link Peguera and es Capdellà and this last area with Calvià village.

Finally, another aspect in which the Calvià Town Hall has been working with, these last years, has been, to give value to the municipality´s rich cultural heritage, which is classified in the book, presented at the Book Fair. In this sense, projects have been started up, letting the residents and visitors know, of the historical legacy inherited throughout the centuries. Amongst these projects, it is to be highlighted the creation of the Disembark Routes, the Puig de sa Morisca´s Archaeological Parc, the recovery of the Burial Mound of Son Ferrer, etc. 

"Calvià, Cultural Heritage"

Now, in addition to the previous statements, the presentation of the book Calvià, Patrimonio Cultural (Calvià, Cultural Heritage) has been achieved. The result of the arduous and extensive work, carried out by the Calvià Town Hall, through the Heritage Area, during the last years, to compile in one unique edition, all the historical-artistic heritage of the municipality of Calvià, as a material testimony of those historical facts which during the course of the centuries, have modulated both, the appearence and the sociocultural relations in the municipality.

Thus, the intention is to introduce the Calvià´s rich historical-cultural heritage in a context which makes it understandable, favouring its socialization and its necessary preservation for future generations, as a strategic pillar within the municipality´s cultural and tourist offer improvement.

The book presents two different parts. The first one titled, "Apuntes sobre la Historia de Calvià" (Notes about the History of Calvià), is a journey through time through the history of the municipality and an approximation to the geographical environment through the knowledge of various authors, who have collaborated with their articles.

The second part is dedicated, specifically, to the municipality´s “Cultural Heritage”. Within this part, a journey through the municipality´s heritage elements is made, according to the information obtained during the cataloging tasks carried out in the PGOU (Urban General Planning) revision, during the last years. This part is organized in three big blocs, related with the three big heritage categories present in the municipality: archaeological heritage, ethnographic heritage and architectural heritage.

The archaeological heritage bloc is dedicated to the archaeological remains, organized according to the different periods, which make the municipality´s Prehistory and History, covering sites of diverse importance, from the Bronze Age until the end of the Islamic occupation (s. XIII).

Within the ethnographic heritage bloc, a journey is made through the different possessions which make up the municipality´s rich ethnographic heritage. The division of the chapters which make this bloc, is organized from a typological and functional criterion, covering, therefore, hydraulic systems (water deposits, wells, waterwheels...), elements related with the agricultural resources exploitation (threshing floors, flour mills, granaries...) and with the forest, geological, apiculture and marine resources exploitation (lime stone ovens, quarries, beehives, docks...).

Finally, the architectural heritage bloc, gathers all the muncipality´s catalogued military, civil, residential, religious, tourist, social and commemorative building heritage. Thus, possessions, rural and urban houses, defense towers, coastal military batteries, churches, convents, district crossings, hotels, etc, are registered. To sum up, all the municipality´s most paradigmatic architectural possessions which have remained up to the present day.

Within its two volumes and its more than 800 pages, this book, covers almost 4.000 years of History and includes very varied heritage elements, covering not only emblematic areas for the district´s inhabitants, such as the Santa Ponça Mill, the Puig de sa Morisca, the Calvià church or the Galatzó Public Estate, but also those traditionally less valued possessions and which have gone unnoticed, but as well as the previous ones, also have modulated the appearance of Calvià.

During the last years, both, the Calvià Town Hall and the Foundation Calvià 2004, have committed with the cataloging, the recovering and with the investment in all and each of the heritage elements which have been marking the municipality´s history. For that reason and from the Town Hall´s Heritage Area, from the promoted Heritage Plan, the actions which have made possible the registration of all the elements, their recovering and together with their spreading, have been carried out. The protected elements catalogue has increased in various hundreds during the last two years, thus creating a unique systematization process for the cataloging.

Also, the Calvià Architecture Prizes have been created with the aim of promoting the creation of a “good” architecture, which in the future, will be the hallmark of an era. Also, the Restoration Plan of the tourist areas in Calvià, has been defined and a big amount of heritage sites and elements have been recovered such as, the Galatzó public estate, the Puig de sa Morisca, Sa Mesquida, the layered Turriforme in Son Ferrer, the Naveta Alemany, etc. Finally, it is to be mentioned that, recently, a preliminary plan tender, for the future implementation of the Calvià´s Archaeological Museum at the Puig de sa Morisca, has been resolved.