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They request that the necessary procedures be initiated in collaboration with CARM so that, as soon as possible, the drafting of a project for the restoration of Xiquena Castle, as well as its Architecturally attractive tourist and cultural of the municipality
The councilor of the Municipal Socialist Group in the City of Lorca, David Romera has asked the Government team of the Popular Party to initiate the appropriate procedures in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture of the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia to draft the Corresponding project that allows the consolidation and restoration of the Xiquena Castle, located at the western end of the municipality, in the Diputación de Fontanares and located on an isolated hill in the valley of the river Luchena.
Romera has recalled that it is a building protected by the State since 1949, as it currently has the highest rating of Cultural Interest (Spanish Heritage Historical Act of 1985 and Cultural Heritage Act of the Region of Murcia 2007 ).
The mayor has argued that Xiquena is in a situation of "extreme ruin" and "is bound to a safe demise, if you do not act with urgency and stop its current collapse."
For this reason, they formally urge the local government to jointly with the regional government to "put all technical means available to proceed as soon as possible to the restoration of Xiquena, second strength in importance of the municipality after The Castle of Lorca ".
The socialist councilor indicated that such is the "worrying situation of ruin" in which the Castle of Xiquena is located, that this monument "has been mentioned since 2007 in the Red List of Spanish Heritage in Peril", created by the association Hispania Nostra, which collects those assets subject to the risk of disappearance, destruction or essential alteration of their values. "In fact, he recalls that in the mentioned list, Castillo de Xiquena" was one of the first monumental groups that appeared indicated by its advanced state Of almost irreversible ruin ".
In addition, Romera says that "many local and regional administrations have echoed what Hispania Nostra denounced and acted accordingly. Since the creation of the Red List in 2007, 14% of the designated buildings (89 in total) Has been restored and put into value, and Castillo de Xiquena, because of its historical relevance and its architectural value, "can not be less." It is also contradictory that the association Hispania Nostra denounce the situation of the Castle of Xiquena when the same association manages the Spanish applications to the Europa Nostra awards, which in its 2016 edition fell on the restoration of six churches in Lorca affected by the earthquakes of 2011, so there is a lime and another sand for the Lorca Heritage, "he concluded. Socialist councilor.
The history of Xiquena Castle is as intense as it is exciting.
It is a fortification built by the Nasrid at the end of the 12th century as an advanced position towards Lorca given its strategic location in an interior valley at the gates of the region of Los Vélez.
In 1433 Xiquena is conquered by Alonso Yáñez Fajardo and incorporated to the Kingdom of Castile, initiating the extension of the enclosure.
Between 1450 and 1459 the castle is owned by the valiant mayor of Lorca Alonso Fajardo El Bravo, who with iron hand controlled and kept the border with the kingdom of Granada at bay and was later sold to Juan Pacheco, Marqués de Villena and Conde de Xiquena.
In 1488, with the conquest of Los Vélez by Fernando el Católico, the castle loses its military functionality and is abandoned, belonging from the eighteenth century to the Council of Lorca.
The visible structures of the Castle allow to differentiate the two constructed enclosures.
The Nasrid initial, in the highest part, with a semicircular tower and the Tower of Homage, next to a cistern in the same precipice;
And the Christian enlargement with five turrets joined by walls made of wall mortar, an inner cistern and a bent door, leaving the cemetery outside.
Perhaps most striking in its history is the privilege granted by Enrique IV in 1470 before the lack of frontiers that defended it, which allowed by right of asylum, that criminals and murderers to redeem their sentences defending Xiquena during a year and a day.
From there comes the medieval saying: "Kill the King and go to Lorca."
Source: PSOE Lorca
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