| Open letter from Paco Guerao, Architect | ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF LA BASTIDA.Greetings to all.I am Paco Guerao, Architect.I want to make this dissemination to, in my measure, without political or partisan interests, only as a totanero and under the protection of my experience of more than 35 years intervening in the heritage of the Region of Murcia, to provide reliable and verifiable data on the situation of the Archaeological site of the Bastida and the controversy periodically raised, for several years, by the "Bastida Research Team".For several years, this team and its relatives have been pouring out a series of alarming and doubtful information about the Site, such as:La Bastida is going to be dismantled.Totana is left without the European Troy.The archaeological pieces excavated in the Site will be transferred to a warehouse in Alcantarilla.If these pieces come out of Totana they will not return.The Investigation Team is being invited to leave the Bastida.All this is false, and its dissemination obeys only the particular interests of a group and not the general interests of the people of Totana, in the defense of its rich archaeological, cultural and historical heritage, as well as that of the entire Region of Murcia and by extension that of the country.First of all, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation for the great work carried out by Vicente Lull and his team regarding the excavation of the Site and its dissemination in the national and international media.But the circumstances that we have lived in for a long time are, unfortunately, very different from when this team arrived in Totana, mainly in the financial and financial aspect.For more than 5 years, the archaeological excavation works have been paralyzed, as well as those of consolidation, maintenance and restoration.
In addition, for several years, the museumization of the archaeological pieces extracted from the Site cannot be contemplated, since they were removed from public exhibition by the La Bastida Team, with the argument that they should be restored and kept in their workshops during this process.With what the visits of the public in general, are reduced only to the visit to the excavated spaces.This decision is not very understandable, since these pieces were previously restored and prepared for public display.
Although its justification can only be understood motivated by an act of pressure towards the local and regional authorities, to obtain greater benefits for the Bastida team, and thus, justify its permanence in the facilities of the Site, when already, its work and activity are not necessary in them.But all this has a great negative consequence for the interests of the people of Totana and its municipal coffers, and that is that, annually, it must contribute more than € 100,000 to maintain a security and surveillance service 24 hours a day in the facilities of the Site.
.This service is mandatory, due to the obligation of the custody regulations of the Heritage Law, for the archaeological pieces excavated from the Site that are stored there.
Yes, indeed, the same pieces that were previously exposed to the public and are now stored, for more than 3 years, where no one can see them and without being the object of any restoration work, because this has already been done for a long time.For this reason, and to optimize the current scarce economic resources of the Administrations, the Department of Culture of the Totana City Council, in a decision that I consider correct, has requested the General Directorate of Cultural Assets of the Autonomous Community of Murcia, the transfer and deposit of the archaeological pieces, to the appropriate facilities of the Regional Administration under the custody of its technicians.This deposit would last until the appropriate museum spaces are enabled in Totana for their worthy exhibition and appreciation of these remains, by the general public and in the interest of the heritage, historical, cultural, tourist and economic resources of Totana.In fact, if this measure had been carried out 5 years ago, the Totana City Council would have saved around € 600,000 in paying for the security services of the archaeological remains deposited and stored in La Bastida.This amount would have been enough to provide the city of Totana with the Archaeological Museum where it could display its rich heritage, with the benefits that this would have meant for all sectors of the municipality.For all this, I ask you, all the totaneros, institutions, associations, including of course the Bastida Team: we are going to find a solution, let's put our contribution together, to take advantage of and benefit from this great resource of our history as it is the Bastida Site, let us put negative and fruitless controversies aside and focus on directing our efforts to provide the Bastida Site with a more hopeful and brighter future. Paco Guerao, Architect
