Massu Sentí, head of the Archeology and Museums area of Dénia
Since 2018, the Area of Archeology and Museums of the Dénia City Council has developed, in connection with the celebration of the events of October 9, a dissemination program that includes the essential scenes of Dénia and its natural environment , the region of the Marina Alta. I as an objectius, the dissemination of ancient history and ancient medieval archaeology.
Enguany, in line with the previous annual events, presented in five days diverse activities that revolve around the Islamic society that was conquered, along with the recent development. It consists of complementary conferences with a series of visits with an expert guide. The conferences, in addition to the traditional format, provide a modality called the light air, which allows the first-hand knowledge, in situ, of the material and cultural heritage, together with the topography and the landscape that constituted the environment. vital dels conquerits and després dels nouvinguts. The analysis of the urban and material enterprise of the foragitated Islamic society and of the committed Christian society constitutes a transcendent circumstance, leitmotiv of the Language Commemoration Days to which the name is given: From the Islamic Medina of Daniya to the flat village of Castell.
This way of expressing history, in common with the material undertakings of medieval societies, both of the conquerors and those who formed objects of conquest, has been revealed, starting in 2018 in which we will begin the journey, with a method It is especially appreciated by the citizens, hours after hours of loyalty, who participate in the events in an interactive way. This circumstance, no matter what, generates real enthusiasm.
On the fourth anniversary of the start of the Urban Archeology of Salvament to our city, it is intended to celebrate the days with a conference that brings the participants closer to Daniya, the Islamic medina that was the city in which they lived, or in the Which is troben, Dénia. The conference “Daniya, a conquered medina. 40 years of salvage archeology” will be taught on Thursdays, October 3, by Massu Sentí Ribes, archaeologist.
In this case the main structures of the urban structure of the Islamic metropolis will be exposed, in the light of 40 years of archaeological interventions carried out in the new sun. A journey without return, since, sadly, most of the time, archeology is a book that is available to the extent that the pages are torn out, two centuries of urban life, for more than 1.000 years.
During the day of October 5, archaeologist Sílvia Ruiz Server will give the conference “Daniya, suport d'un port. The commercial buildings of the medina and the raval: soc, alfòndecs and tendes”. The archaeologist will present a set of buildings with these characteristics, documented to date in the urban area of our city. It is a tract of alfòndecs and trends, in addition to a possible society, that manifest the intense urban and commercial life of a city that was founded throughout the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, eminently, with a lot of trade and sale of merchandise. diverse. This circumstance informs and highlights the title of the conference: the city analyzed basically with the support of a port, of an intercanvi land.
Dissabte October 7, art historian Jaume Sau Moncho, will give the first of his conferences to the outdoors: “Daniya, structure and evolution of the city. The archaeological evidence”, as a tangible complement to the continguts of the first and second day. The trail will be followed of urban archaeological enterprises such as fortifications, ports, roadways, domestic architecture, bathrooms, commercial buildings and cementeries.
From the historian Jaume Salort Ronda, it is far the second of the conferences in the open air, day October 8: “L'endemà de la conquesta: castell, vila i raval”. The conquest of Dénia by Jaume I, in 1244, produced a profound modification of the urban planning of the city that changed its structure. The alcassaba and the Islamic albacar are the object of a new urban purpose, the founding of the flat town of Dénia by Jaume II, in 1308. It materializes an urban planning that lines and parapets the interior of the castle, At the same time that the ancient, extensive and complex medina is abandoned and quarried for the extraction of materials for the supply of the new cases. Sooner than later, the founding of the town meant the establishment of a road to a sector of the medina, in a process well identified through archeology and historical cartography. It was granted the title of Ciutat by Philip III, in 1612, marking the beginning of the fidelity of the urban core of the castle, which was renamed Vila Vella. The War of Succession will destroy and put the final touch on this city.
The program of the Days is complementary to three visits with an expert guide, said on 12, ending on 14 and day 15. Under the heading Dénia, from town to city, the visits will address the long process of changing the city that begins from the fi from the Islamic medina to the constitution of the vila del Castell and the emergence of the city.
