The City Council of Dénia has recently approved the proposal of the Contracting Board to award the restoration works of the Torre del Galliner and the Verger Baix del castle to the company with the best score of those presented. This is the company Study Methods of Restoration SL based in Valencia.
The works, which will be co-financed by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda through the 1,5% Cultural program and the Dianense consistory, have a bidding budget of 653.270,94 euros, VAT excluded, and an execution period of 10 months.
The works will consist of masonry and masonry work and restoration tasks in an area of 2.916,80 square meters. The drafters of the project have divided them into three action sectors: the Verger Baix area, including the front of the area of the Mar Battery up to the Llavador or Senieta Tower; the Portal dels Reis or dels Socors and the Torre del Galliner.
What will the works consist of?
In sector 1 (Verger Baix and Bateria de la Mar) an arrangement of accesses is planned, enabling two: one from the public road through the Torre de Galliner and another from inside the castle, through the Portal dels Reis. The consolidation and covering of the Islamic structures in this area will also be carried out, made up of three parallel longitudinal walls that define two naves or galleries.
The current intervention aims to protect it through construction techniques similar to the original ones. In this sector, an intervention is also planned in the old magazine and the treatment of surfaces between the margin and the Battery of the Sea.
Other actions planned in the area are the restoration of the stretch of wall between the Battery of the Sea and the Torre del Galliner and adjoining surfaces; the construction of communication ramps from the lower part of the Verger Baix with the exit to the Portal dels Reis and the installation of monumental lighting on the upper level of the Verger Baix, from the Torre del Mig to the eastern bastion where it joins the upper wall of the fortress
In the Portal dels Reis or dels Socors, the surfaces will be treated, eliminating the level of filling that currently covers them. In addition, both the portal and its annex cube with a semicircular floor plan will be restored, recovering the lost shape of this important access that connected the lower city with the castle hill.
Likewise, in substitution of the steeply sloping staircase-ramp that currently ascends from the Portal dels Reis towards the spaces adjoining the southern sections of the castle wall, a ramp is planned with different sections interrupted by plateaus every certain distance.
Finally, the rehabilitation and enhancement as access and communication between the seafront of the city and the interior of the monumental complex of the Torre del Galliner is planned. This structure was emptied from the inside at the end of the 70s of the last century.
Once the current structure has been dismantled, the construction of a staircase for the circulation of visitors is proposed, which, in a later phase, will be improved with an elevator. Likewise, the elimination of the current steps from the sidewalk of Ronda Muralles and the construction of a staircase that ascends from the level of the sidewalk to the platform that precedes the entrance to the tower has been projected.
