The historic wall of Travessa da Palmeira to be demolished.
Mayor elected by the CDU admits error. 17th century wall. XVIII was demolished due to risk of collapse, but without proper authorization, accuses the public institute Cultural Heritage.
The public institute Cultural Heritage participated in the demolition with the PSP, without authorizationof an 18th century wall in the historic center of Évora, ordered by the council, which recognizes that a “flaw” prevented communication.
“There was, in fact, a failure in the municipality’s services and, naturally, as mayor, I assume this situation”, said this Wednesday the president of the Municipality of Évora, Carlos Pinto de Sá (CDU), in statements to the Lusa agency.
The mayor revealed that the city hall has already informed Patrimônio Cultural IP (Public Institute) that “it would do everything necessary to clarify the situation and, if there was a need to make any replacements, it would deal with the owner”.
Located in Travessa da Palmeira and owned by a hotel, the wall was partially demolished on the 4th of this month, after the municipality notified the owners to do so, for “presenting risk of collapse”.
Cultural Heritage told Lusa that, in July this year, the Alentejo Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR) asked the municipality for clarification. This State body wanted to obtain more information from the municipality about “the public intention to demolish 1.5 meters of the wall, under the pretext of security issues, with Civil Defense being involved in the matter”, he highlighted.
However, according to Cultural Heritage, No technical report on the stability of the wall was sent to “this institute, nor a specific request for a demolition proposal with heritage safeguard measures”.
On the day it was partially demolished, Cultural Heritage said that, after a warning from the CCDR, it ordered “the immediate suspension of movements and demolitions of the wall”, notified the municipality and scheduled an inspection for the following day.
It was found during the inspection that “the wall structure had been completely dismantled in its entirety non-compliance with the suspensionand the incident was reported to the Public Security Police”, he stressed.
This public institute highlighted that it “notified the owner and ordered the Évora Chamber to take urgent measures to be applied” to safeguard the remaining elements, admitting taking other measures “depending on the importance” of the “now destroyed property”.
Questioned by Lusa about this matter, Pinto de Sá said that the The municipality was alerted by the population and by the Union of Parishes of Évora to the risk of the wall collapsing, putting “the safety of goods and, above all, people” at risk.
The Municipal Civil Protection Service, on a trip to the site, confirmed the existence of a risk of falling and proposed the demolition of the wall up to 1.5 meters high, with the city council notifying the owner to do so, he said.
“As soon as the machine entered the wall to cut up to 1.5 meters in height, the wall completely collapsed. In other words, in fact, it had no connection with the foundations and, therefore, the risk of collapse was even greater than we thought”, described the mayor.
Noting that “the process was also monitored by the municipality’s Archeology”, the mayor stated that this service “concluded that the wall had no significant historical or heritage elements”.
A report with the conclusions of the Évora Chamber Archeology Service and the measures determined by Cultural Heritage and already adopted by the municipality will now be sent to this public institute, he added.
In its response to Lusa, Património Cultural recalled that “the historic center of Évora is classified as a UNESCO Heritage Site and as a National Monument, and any intervention is prohibited without prior authorization from the cultural administration”.
As for the structure, according to the institute, is “in 18th century cartography (1750), corresponding to the wall of an old farm boundary”, which makes it “a structural element of the dynamics of the urban morphology of the historic center”.
