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Clearing overgrown vegetation at northern zone of Es Campament

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Tomorrow workers will begin clearing the northern zone of the La Savina penitentiary centre ruins, a site known also as Es Campament. The site is listed in Formentera's Catalogue of Cultural Heritage Sites (p. 114), approved as part of the Revision of Subsidiary Regulations, and has been assigned level A protection.

This first stage of overgrowth-clearing will be overseen by the TRAGSA company and will also include a series of preventative archeological follow-up measures. Clearing vegetation is the first step in a process that will later include reinforcement of Es Campament's northwest wall, which is one of the most historically noteworthy portions of the La Savina ruins.

The project, intended to ensure the preservation of the ruins, was presented last March by the technical services team of the Council's Office of Culture and Patrimony. The proposal is divided into four parts: the cleaning and clearing of vegetation existing alongside the northwest wall and surrounding the three wells located on the site; the removal of rubbish; the cleaning of the inner portion of the three wells and the rebuilding of the northwest wall using a construction technique which leaves a double row of stones with a central filling.

Article 22 of Law 12/1998 of 21 December, from the Historical Heritage of the Balearic Islands, establishes that those sites constituting integral components of the Balearic Islands' historical heritage must be maintained by the owners or title holders of the land where the site is located. The regulations mandate that such individuals facilitate any information requested by the public authorities regarding the conditions and current use of the site in question. Notwithstanding, the Formentera Council has proposed to the landowners of Es Campament that the local administration itself assume responsibility of these maintenance operations.

Es Campament is an ensemble of ruins that constituted a concentration camp in operation from the end of the Spanish Civil War to the end of 1942. It was subsequently employed as troop barracks and, later, as a site for dying fishing nets. In hopes of continuing research on the location, the Formentera Island Council has commissioned a historical study by the Obra Cultural Balear of Formentera. As part of the same project, the Council and OCB Formentera have signed a collaborative agreement which includes scientific consultation for the site on subjects of culture and patrimony.