Miguel Hernández was a renowned playwright and poet who lived in Spain at the beginning of the 20th century. He was born in Orihuela in 1910 and, despite being imprisoned by the national side (Spanish Civil War) and died due to tuberculosis in 1942, with only 31 years, left a great legacy of poems and plays. In Pardo Gimeno street, where the monument now stands, was the infirmary of the jail where he died, and today, since 1998, the monument to this great poet stands out in the Benalúa neighborhood. Furthermore, near the monument, there is a street dedicated to his memory.
The Millennium Gate was designed by sculptor Eduardo Lastres. It is part of a series of four contemporary structures of various modern Spanish artists located along the Gran Vía de Alicante to commemorate the new millennium. It is a great figure in the shape of a door, supported by concrete columns and several steel figures that crown the sculpture on top.
In 1982, the World Cup took place in Spain, one of the venues was Alicante, and coinciding with that World Cup, a monument dedicated to golden proportions was inaugurated, an icosahedron by Juan S. Pérez i Parra's and José L. Frías Wamra's architecture studio, who worked in collaboration with the engineer Florentino Regalado. The icosahedron has twenty faces and resembles a soccer ball shaped like a truncated icosahedron. This means that each vertex is truncated and replaced by pentagons. Thus, the soccer ball is not a sphere but composed of polygons like this icosahedron which is made of triangles. This sculpture is based on the works of architect Richard Buckminster, famous for his works based on nature and its perfect proportions. Hence the allusive name of this monument to the golden proportions. After several renovations, it has finally found its place on a roundabout, in front of the Plaza Mar 2 shopping center, on Avenida de Denia.
With the passage of time, rainwater tanks have stopped being used, so those who remain standing begin to be a symbol and a memory that must be preserved. This deposit in the north of Alicante is a reference in the area and is admired by the people who live and pass by there.
The tower is solid on the ground floor. To get inside it was necessary to climb a ladder that connected with the first floor. This improved the defence of the fortress in case of attack. From the first floor you can ascend to the second floor and from there to the cover terrace. The base is made of plastered masonry and the corners are made with ashlar reinforcement. The tower has several loopholes at different levels in all its facades. There is a chapel in the complex that preserves paintings with allegories to divine justice, the theological virtues and several cherubs. The residential building was articulated by a large hall that still preserves two arches. To the left, there is a store that was also used as a stable. The service units were located at the back of the ground floor. The main space was destined to the lords of the estate. There is a basement that preserves the cellar, a very important space where many wines were produced. At the rear of the house there was a large pool of water, pens and several oil mills. The estate was completed by extensive orchards with olive trees, carob trees, fig trees, almond trees and fruit trees, irrigated with water from the small irrigation canal of Ansaldo. This canal belonged to the network of irrigation canals of Alacant’s cropland. The estate is named after the Ansaldo family, native to Genoa, who first came to Alacant during the reconquest in the thirteenth century, at which time they received several possessions in Almoradí. In the fifteenth century, a part of the family emigrated to America and another to Cartagena (Murcia), attracted by the socioeconomic conditions of the city. In the seventeenth century the family settled permanently in Alacant where they carried out a commercial activity, especially wine exports. Currently, there are different proposals from the municipality to address the restoration and to make the most of Finca Ansaldo, as a space for cultural use, or as a centre of interpretation of the Torres de l’Horta (cropland Towers). The site has been declared an Asset of Cultural Interest.
It is a small square tower, consisting of ground floor and two floors, and topped by a terrace with cornice. On one of its sides there is a metal staircase that gives access to the roof, which suggests that the interior staircase is no longer preserved. Its low height and relatively large plant give it a voluminous, solid and noble appearance. It is devoid of battlements and ornaments.
Cutting head of the tunnel boring machine used for the construction of the splitting of the general collector. In memory of the works for the defense against floods of the city of Alicante, carried out by the Department of Public Works, Urban Planning and Transport, which were inaugurated in July 2001.
At the end of March 1939, thousands of Republicans chose exile in the port of Alicante when they embarked on the Stanbrook and other vessels, thus escaping the impending repression. Many more, around fiteen thousand, were captured by the Italian fascist troops and interned in different places around the city. That is the way the Spanish Civil War ended and how the dictatorship began.
It is a square tower of five by five meters on each side and twelve meters high, dating from the sixteenth century.The name comes from Botero, in Castilian, someone who manufactures boots. The towe was built with ashlars and masonry, with a door that rises almost two meters from the ground and holes in the walls at the height of each floor. It keeps its helical staircase that leads to each of its four floors (plus the ground floor). You will find it in the Camino del Benimagrell, number 33. There is a bike route to visit all emblematic towers in the city of Alicante.
Although most of the walls that formed the Muslim precinct have disappeared, some remains scattered throughout the city can still be traced. On the one hand, the towers that have become part of the current urban fabric, some somewhat camouflaged, such as the Council, Santa Bárbara, Santa Lucía or Ressemblanch, which best retains its original traces. In order to take a complete impression of the old wall it will be necessary to look for the "remnants" of the same one in different locations, like the lime mortar tapial at the confluence of Fatxo and Diagonal streets; the section integrated in the current building of the Town Hall and that looks at the Plaça de Baix or the existing profile, of considerable dimensions, in the Cases de la Mare de Deu.
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