Cultural asset (Snow collect) 17th c.

Monuments

In order to store and maintain the snow for the production and commercialization of ice, used for various purposes (therapeutic, culinary, preservatives, etc.), during the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many deposits were built in Spain, called "neveros" or snow pits. The Gran cava is one of them. The description of the property extracted from the public property deed says:   "Rustic. Covered and paved well called the "Nevera Grande" (big fridge), with the right to collect snow (to fill it) in an area of ​​land of over one hundred days, equivalent to forty-nine hectares, eighty-six areas and fifty-six hectares, located on the Mountain range of Mariola, term of the town of Agres, departure of Cova Grande. Linda everywhere with inheritance lands from which it comes. "   A hundred years ago, with the revolution that in the ice industry was assuming the artificial production of cold, the snow deposits fell into disuse and were abandoned. The Cava Gran stopped being used and its owner agreed to the dismantling of its roof for the recycling of certain construction materials. We know that bricks, tiles, ashlars and wooden structural elements, coming from the cellar, were reused in repairs of the convent of Franciscans, on the roof of the Sanctuary of Agres and in a house in the town (Vicedo Martínez and Ramírez Gosálvez, 2004) . After the dismantling of the tile roof, the magnificent arched structure that supported it was exposed, and the Cava Gran was acquired by the other name by which it is known, Cava Arquejada. This fact, the dismantling of the roof, also favored the installation of plant species on the construction remains of the nevero, among which include an invasive colonization of ivies, highly destructive to building materials, and the presence of a specimen of Yew rooted in the bottom of the glass of the nevero, next to the shade side. Photography has given us invaluable information in recent times, because through a snapshot taken possibly in the 1920s, we can know exactly how the Gran de Agres cava was covered. This image, today the oldest preserved of the Cava Gran, we can find it displayed in the Library Room of the MARQ during the period that the exhibition is maintained thanks to the temporary cession of its owner, family of Pascual Revert. La Cava Gran is a protected cultural asset. It is classified as a Property of Local Relevance by the Fifth Additional Provision of Law 5/2007, of February 9, of the Generalitat Valenciana. The Cava Gran was built for the storage and conservation of snow. It was configured as a covered well, partially excavated in the rock and embedded in a slope of the summits of the Sierra de Mariola with slope to the southeast. The reservoir tank has an inverted frustoconical volume, with a circular section in the interior and a hexagonal façade on the upper part. The structure of its roof is a pointed ribbed vault, formed by six semi-arches of ashlar masonry. It is topped by a pinnacle of more than three tons of weight. Acquired by the Provincial Delegation of Alicante in December 2008 for the amount of € 152,000, since 2010 various works have been developed for its value. Restoration and musealization works are currently underway, planned and directed by the Department of Architecture of the Provincial Council, whose completion is expected in the month of July 2015.