Al-Andalusian palatial complex and neighborhood of San Esteban

View of the archaeological site, December 2009. Days before the holder of the court number One of Murcia ordered the precautionary cessation of the works of clearing the archaeological site located in the Garden of San Esteban.

Named today as Al-Andalusian palatial complex and neighborhood of San Esteban once located in the Arrabal de la Arrixaca Nueva. It is located in the center of Murcia (Region of Murcia, Spain).

This exceptional archaeological site of (10,143 m2) is located in the old Garden of San Esteban, next to the building Palacio de San Esteban is allowing document the evolution of this urban space from Islamic times to the present and allow give a new approach within of the medieval archeology given the urban plot appeared in the arrabal of San Esteban.

This site included is composed of large country residences, (some of them real palaces), many palaces, extensive gardens, and a religious sector with a necropolis and an oratory or small mosque, noted so far during the excavations.

Archaeological discovery

The archaeological discovery relates mainly to the structure of the Islamic neighborhood of 13th century, with some visible elements belonging to 12th century, and the late 11th century. These remains are of great historical interest, although the excavation process is still unfinished and, as yet, missing archaeological data for its final evaluation.

Within the archaeological site is one of the medieval arrabals of the city, known as Arrabal of la Arrixaca Nueva (or of the North). The image of this arrabal that transmit the sources is that of a space occupied by almunias (country residences) located on the outskirts of the city. Large recreational farms surrounded by extensive gardens were well watered, but also important agricultural holdings that produced substantial produce. With the Christian reconquest, it quickly changed its appearance to move the arrabal, "Muslim population", and the Christian population occupied the former medina.

The archaeological excavation has slightly changed this previous image after that it had from the sources. Apparently, the onset of the demographic pressure in the arrabal of la Arrixaca Nueva goes back at least to 12th century, and thereafter it occurred a gradual occupation of the space come from the Walls of the medina (located in the calle Santa Teresa) and from its main exit routes and rose certain political or residential centers. The excavations made in the past in the Palacio de San Esteban allowed intuit under this the existence of a palace of the Islamic era. This palace would turn generated the proliferation of urban spaces in its immediate environment, which are those that have come to light in the excavations of the Garden of San Esteban.

The urban layout of Murcia is well known by the excavations that in the last two decades have been documenting all the plots affected by urban renewal. The same it find in San Esteban exists in the entire city of Murcia and is being studied systematically.

Analyzed individually and from a purely architectural standpoint, the houses documented in the excavation show a level of medium-low construction quality within the range usual for plots excavated the urban area of Murcia.

What gives greater significance to the remains found in this place is the possibility of having an overview of an urban space of large dimensions.

Partial view of the Al-Andalusian palatian complex and neighborhood of San Esteban archaeological site in December 2009.

The observation of the site

View of the archaeological site, September 2010. Conservation process carried out by a private company^[1] contracted of the conservation works archaeological site of San Esteban.

View of the archaeological site, September 2010. First it proceed to the cleaning and maintenance of all surfaces and structures of the site, where herbicides are applied to prevent the proliferation of plants after temporary preservation treatment. The works also include the consolidation of structures with lime mortar and the consolidation of lime pavements with refence of mortar of restoration, which preserves the pavement edges. In addition, it preserves the remains with a layer of geo-textile to separate the archaeological layers of the gravel that protect the site. Are also signaled the most important structures and the major roads.

The fact of having a free space a-priori, allowed urban planning with streets of prominent proportions and features within what it know to global level of the city of Murcia.

This urban structure, as is usual in the Islamic medina presents a clear infrastructure and management of drains connected to a public system of "sewer". This aspect it lost with the Christian conquest of the city, and Murcia not recover public infrastructure and hierarchical of drainage and out of waste water until well into the 20th century.

Despite the modesty of the building materials, the floors of the houses reflect the characteristic Islamic models, with landscaped central courtyards, the main stay located to the north and the cranked entrance from the street to strengthen the privacy inside the house. This gives it a typological value, as these serve as an example articulating a "traditional Islamic Murcian housing of 12th-13th century", inheriting the best Classic and Mediterranean tradition.

Palatial facilities: although not palaces as such, as can be deduced from a comparison with a palace such as Monasterio de Santa Clara la Real, these houses are of large-scale and therefore correspond to a wealthy class, possibly of senior officials related to the palace that would be located under the current Palacio de San Esteban. In some cases it may be thought, by its typological parallels, in its relation with other public buildings, such as a "funduk" (inn) or a "madrasa" (school).

Along with housing, the existence of a religious sector is remarkable, located in the northwest corner of the area under excavation, with an area of necropolis and maybe a oratory or small mosque relatable to the neighborhood at the end of 13th century.

Origin of excavations

The City Hall of Murcia promoted the execution of an underground car park in the area occupied by the Garden of San Esteban. The appearance of an archaeological set of interest led to study and propose different ways of preservation of the remains that were appearing, and came to consider the possible removal, consolidation and subsequent relocation of the Islamic neighborhood in the same place, but at ground level.

The treatment of the archaeological remains of the site of the city of Murcia is defined in the Special Plan for the Historic Complex of Murcia. Is the fulfillment of this Special Plan which has been to performed, so required, and by order of the Directorate General of Fine Arts and Bienes Culturales of the regional government the archaeological excavation in the "Garden of San Esteban" prior to licensing for the works of the car parking.

The extent of the maintainable remains to virtually all of the affected area for the planned car park eventually led to the Regional Government to rule out the planned construction of that underground car parking.

The change of the project led to paralyze the archaeological excavations, hitherto financed by the construction company for the car park, and oriented to that purpose, to take up a new project whose priority was the conservation and museology of the excavated archaeological complex and the area still to be excavated.

The Directorate General proceeded to initiate the declaration of the archaeological remains found in the "Garden of San Esteban" as Bien de Interés Cultural (BIC),^[2] which process is currently pending of the required reports of the consultative institutions.

It is in the transition period to define the final project to run, the steps to take towards it, and the collection of all data that can cope with the best guarantees the completion of the archaeological excavation; address the consolidation, conservation and restoration measures of the remains; and define the museological elements, phases and criteria. This technical process has the support of a multidisciplinary committee created for that purpose by the Directorate General of Fine Arts and Cultural Assets.

A committee of experts, in the words of the Minister of Culture and Tourism, has been chosen for "their professionalism, prestige and for the specific Islamic period dating the remains." At the moment, because it is not closed, the list includes:

Antonio Malpica Cuello, professor of Medieval History at the University of Granada.
Rafael Pardo Prefasi, specialist architect in the restoration of heritage.
Jorge Eiroa, professor of the University of Murcia, specialist in medieval archeology.
José María Luzón, professor of archeology of the Complutense University of Madrid.
Juan Francisco Jiménez Alcázar, director of the Center for Medieval Studies of the University of Murcia.
Emilio Estrella, Dr. Engineer of Roads, Channels and Ports, and member of the Academia Alfonso X El Sabio, student of the ancient Murcia.
Carmen Pérez, director of the Institute of Restoration of the Valencian Community.
Ricardo Mar, professor of archeology of the University Rovira i Virgili of Tarragona.^[3]

Citizen movement

Abrazo (Embrace) to the site of San Esteban.

Manifestation of December 19, 2009.

The 11/27/2009 specifically, during a call of artists of Murcia it produced a "Manifesto for San Esteban". About 300 people gathered in the Plaza Mayor of Murcia. In that place no one it knew except a few related to the world of the artists writers, painters, etc.

The important thing that happened was that after the intervention of people through the public address system, much of the concentrates made the decision to move to the Seprona and denounce the events that were happening at the archaeological site, complaints that continued on successive days and led to the precautionary cessation of the works of clearing of the archaeological site the 12/09/2009 ordered by the holder of the court number One of Murcia.

From this day 11/27/2009, derived a popular awareness in defense of the site and against the construction of an underground car park in San Esteban. Carlos Rodríguez Ibáñez^[4] (Socialist councilor in the City Hall of Cehegín and spokesman of the Grupo Municipal Socialista) created a Facebook group in defense of the site under the title "Yacimiento de San Esteban",^[5] which in a few days had more than 20,000 members. Press, radio and television echoed any news derived on the archaeological site referencing the Facebook group and the number of followers of the group. At that time, the teacher Javier García del Toro^[6] (Professor of prehistory of the University of Murcia) convened meetings every Sunday about 17:00h in the vicinity of the site to sensitize the public of the importance of the archaeological discovery and before finalizing it surrounded the site around its perimeter with those present in a human chain in what was called "Abraza San Esteban" (Embraces San Esteban). Sometimes the teacher delighted the audience with a morunos sweets prepared by himself, some of these sweets had aphrodisiac effects (as did know the teacher before of its intake).

The movement of citizens led to a public platform called "Plataforma Ciudadana" in defense of the site^[7] with the slogan "Abraza San Esteban". The platform it presented in the various public acts of authorities of the Public Administration of Murcia dressed with green jackets and umbrellas to remind them that the site had been abandoned to the inclement weather. Platform members chained themselves to the site, were held concentrations in the vicinity of the site and in other areas of Murcia to report the state of abandonment of the site.

On 19 December 2009 a demonstration convened with about 5,000 people, starting from the City Hall of Murcia through the streets of this city, ending at the San Esteban site. There was read the "Manifesto for San Esteban"^[8]

References

Articles on the site

External links

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