More destruction at Cortijo del Fraile

A technical team from the Department of Cultural Heritage of the Provincial Office of Culture of the Andalusian Government went to Níjar on Thursday to check the state of Cortijo del Fraile, declared this year as a Cultural (BIC) with the type of historical sites, after it was made aware of the collapse of one of its walls for reasons still unknown. The Delegate of Culture, José Antonio Lucas said the team of an architect and an archaeologist was due to visit the location next week in the calendar of recurring appointments that the Board maintains to protect the property, but decided to move forward the appointment and to check on the site in which it is located. According to the provincial head of Culture, during the last inspection carried out earlier this summer it did not detect any damage to the structure of the building which was used as the location that inspired works such as 'Blood Wedding' by Federico García Lorca, and other novels such as "Dagger of carnations," Carmen de Burgos, and served as a stage for various film shoots. With this, Lucas said that once they have the results of the technical and legal report be encouraged "full force" to privatize ownership of the building and to "make every effort to have this keep it in its best possible condition", as he said, "They are obligated to perform tasks for the conservation of the site". The delegate for the time being dismissed the possibility of releasing any information until a full report is made on the causes of the collapse of this wall and the general condition in which the chapel, which shows continuing signs of deterioration do to the poor state of repairs. The Provincial Delegate for Culture recalled that the Cortijo del Monk is still privately owned and is located on a farm where organic crops are grown and owned by a company with which negotiations are to ensure that the property passes into public hands, but has not reached an agreement for the moment". Talks are still open and we would like to reach an agreement, but the owner must understand that this is not a good time economically," he said.