Restoration work begins at San Gines de la Jara monastery

Work at the 17th-century building in El Baal could last for 18 months

After a long battle by campaigners work to restore the monastery of San Ginés de la Jara in El Baal is finally under way, and on Monday Mayor José López and various colleagues from the Town Hall visited the monument to inspect the progress.    

The monastery was originally built by Franciscan monks in the 16th century under the patronage of the Marquises de los Vélez, and the main façade of the original construction still exists, bearing the coats of arms of both the Franciscans and the house of Vélez. The rest of the building as it currently stands is the result of a total reconstruction in the 17th century.

During the property and construction boom of the early years of this century an agreement was signed between the Town Hall and Hansa Urbana by which permission was granted to build the large-scale Novo Cartago residential development in El Baal, and one of the conditions was a commitment on the part of the developers to restore the monastery and return it to the Town Hall. However, Novo Carthago was never built, and since then the monastery has lain abandoned and its condition has deteriorated significantly. 

The slump in the property market and the fact that part of Novo Carthago was to be built on protected land were responsible for the development being halted, and rather than being the centre of an attractive and bustling resort-style area the monastery still stands alone alongside the dual carriageway between La Manga and Cartagena. 

But, as José López saw on Monday, work has now begun on the interior courtyards, partly as a result of the Town Hall’s defiant stance in threatening to execute a bank guarantee of 15 million euros from Hansa Urbana which it still holds. Armed with this document, the Mayor is confident that the restoration will extend, as promised, to the area around the monastery as well as the building itself. 

No fixed duration for the project has been established as plans could change according to what is found during excavations, but eventually it is hoped that after around 18 months some use will be put to the structure in order avoid its deteriorating again.

All indications are that this will be for local use, althought the Mayor admitted that as yet no decisions have been made as to the future use of the building, the most important step being to initiate work which will halt fuirther deterioration of the building and force Hansa to comply with the terms of the original agreement.

Images: José Albaldejo

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