Kimberley Mannion
CAMPAIGNERS are up in arms over plans to destroy a century-old lighthouse at the entrance to Valencia Port described as a relic from the past.
A local cultural heritage association, the Círculo por la Defensa del Patrimonio, is urging Valencia’s city council to postpone the decision to tear it down asking for a full assessment on its cultural importance to be carried out first.
Demolition of the faro as it is known in Spanish is part of a plan for redevelopment of the port area.
The 24-meter-high tower, which for more than a century guided ships safely into port,is no longer in use having been replaced in 2015 by an innovative new structure constructed using composite materials, carbon fibre and fibreglass with polymer matrix which won design innovation awards.
But the old faro was listed in a government catalogue of lighthouses considered to hold valuable heritage status.
The author of the 2017 report described it as having “outstanding value” in historical, architectural, and technological terms.
The Circulo is calling for the structure to be given ‘protection, conservation and enhancement as part of Valencian cultural heritage’ and for it to be opened to the public.
Instead council authorities are considering constructing a replica of the lighthouse closer to the centre of the town.
READ MORE:
- Crossing Valencia City streets in Spain to be made safer for autistic people
- Boy, 12, removed from parents who continually resorted to corporal punishment in Spain’s Valencia City
- Russian Museum in Spain’s Malaga reopens its doors with 350 works by Picasso
