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Date Published: 06/07/2022

ARCHIVED - Benidorm desperately needs funds to save 16th century landmark

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Just over 200,000 euros is needed to restore Torre de Morales (Morales Tower) in the Marina Baixa town, Alicante province

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Benidorm desperately needs funds to save 16th century landmark

Benidorm Town Hall has reached out to Alicante Provincial Council with cap in hand in a bid to secure much-needed funds to save one of the resort's most celebrated landmarks, the 16th century Torre de Morales.

Listed as an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC), the defensive tower desperately requires a new roof and interior repair work, a project that will cost more than 200,000 euros - cash the town council doesn't have set aside.

So the Town Hall has applied to the Provincial Council of Alicante for a grant to restore the tower based on a rehabilitation and enhancement project drafted and approved by the local authority in June 2019.

Councillor for Historical Heritage, Ana Pellicer explained that "according to the rules of the subsidy call, the grant for a municipality the size of Benidorm could reach up to 70% of the cost of the rehabilitation project, which is valued at just over 200,000 euros".

"Torre de Morales is one of the most important heritage monuments in Benidorm, listed as BIC. This is why, for several years, the council has been keen to restore the 16th century defensive tower and is now requesting aid from the Provincial Council of Alicante."

The restoration project approved in 2019 also includes significant external adaptations to make the tower visitable, "thus bringing our historical heritage even closer to the public and making it even more attractive, especially for the younger generations," added the heritage councillor.

Located in Avenida de Villajoyosa on a strip of land which, in the 16th century, was located next to the Camino Real, the Morales tower is, according to the Directorate General for Culture, "a prismatic tower, about four metres on each side at the base. It is preserved up to a height of approximately seven metres. Its masonry is of irregular-sized masonry made of mortar, and the corners are reinforced with ashlars of different sizes".

The tower was also more recently used as a dwelling, and internally there are three levels of floors that were previously connected via a spiral staircase.

The council wants to reinstate the staircase, restore the roof allowing access to the outside, replace the wooden joinery, install electric lighting inside, and improve lighting outside.

In addition, the project includes the erection of information panels detailing the history of the tower which remains closed and bricked up.

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Image: Ayuntamiento de Benidorm

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