News

Old La Mola windmill gets new information point

Friday, 01 April 2022 11:41

foto 2022 punt info moli vell A Today Ana Juan, President of the Consell de Formentera, and Raquel Guasch, Councillor of Heritage, presented the new Molí Vell de la Mola information point, located in an old warehouse next to the protected landmark.

As part of a project which was overseen by the Formentera Office of Heritage, the information point at the "Old La Mola windmill" features a permanent exhibition consisting of four panels highlighting the process of turning grain into bread and its importance in the human diet. There is also a hand-operated millstone of recent fabrication together with assorted samples of grain.

President Juan said the new space represented "one step further in our policy of safeguarding and showcasing heritage assets, and the Formentera Office of Heritage is at the forefront". The last two years have brought approval of protected landmark status for the windmill and surrounding area, restoration of the mill and its sweeps and extended public hours. "Now we are taking another step in the enhancement of a windmill that is part of our history".

For her part, Councillor Guasch pointed out that the lease signed in 2020 between local government and the landmark's owners, the Illes Balears Foundation, "enables us to oversee opening hours and visits as well as to open new spaces like this information point". Guasch asserted that the new space would "move us closer to our goal of opening Formentera's heritage to islanders and tourists alike so they can learn more about it in an up-close and familiar way".

The permanent exhibition offers detailed insight about milling and the various devices which have traditionally served this purpose, dedicating special attention to flour windmills and the names of component parts. The hand-operated millstone can be operated by school children visiting the Moli Vell de la Mola under the supervision of accompanying adults. This piece serves as a counterpoint to the old windmill, which harnessed the wind to yield more with less effort.

This information point has been put in place with in-house funding and has involved an investment of roughly €1,500. A space has been set up for visitors to use. Opening hours during the month of April will be from Tuesday to Saturday from 10.00am to 1.00pm. Admission is free.

1 April 2022
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera

Workshop on how to wash, rinse and spin wool the traditional way

Thursday, 31 March 2022 12:05

The Formentera Office of Heritage is organising a workshop on traditional techniques in washing, rinsing and spinning wool. The workshop will begin at 5.00pm on 26 April in the Es Cap de Barbaria schools. Space is limited and registration is open until 13 April. Participants will receive a confirmation email upon registration.

31 March 2022
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera

Formentera requests €3.9m in EU funding to improve the towns of Sant Francesc, La Mola and La Savina

Wednesday, 30 March 2022 13:55

foto 2022 aetib This morning Alejandra Ferrer, Vice President and Councillor of Tourism, and Bartomeu Escandell, Councillor of Economy and Finance, met with Xisco Mateu, managing director of the Strategic Tourism Agency of the Balearic Islands (AETIB).

At the gathering the three started work on the proposal that the Consell de Formentera has submitted in response to the call for Plans for Sustainability in Tourist Destinations (Planes de Sostenibilidad Turística en Destinos, PSTD). Three projects were included in the administration's €3.9 million request:

- Improvements and rehabilitation of Carrer Gregal in La Savina, opening a new side of the village towards Ses Salines.
- Expansion of pedestrian area in Sant Francesc and pedestrianisation of Carrers Santa Maria and Es Vedrà and a portion of Carrer Antoni Blanch.
- Improvements in the historic environment with a view to connecting La Casa del Poble and Plaça de l'Església and creating a large walking area in the centre of El Pilar de la Mola to showcase various nearby features of local heritage.

Councillor Escandell explained that the projects continued in the line of "making the villages of our island friendlier, designed for people and for social and economic revitalization".

The officials also discussed a special line of PSTD funding approved in 2021 which includes €2 million to implement the following Consell de Formentera projects:

For the green and sustainable transition, €250,000 to improve and apply smart solutions regulating access to Ses Salines Natural Reserve and ensure that people enjoy the unique and highly protected natural space in ways that are sounder and more sustainable.

€1,150,000 to instal solar panel-equipped pergolas in public car parks with recharge points for electric vehicles.

For the digital transition, €250,000 for massive data processing to drive tourism research, a project under development through the Data Observatory.

Finally, €350,000 to improve management of the formentera.eco project to regulate vehicles brought, driven and parked on Formentera with an expanded remote system of controls on in-bound vehicles.

30 March 2022
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera

Students in drawing and painting course show work at "Ajuntament Vell"

Thursday, 31 March 2022 10:04

The Formentera Office of Culture is pleased to report that from 4 to 9 April, the Sala d'Exposicions "Ajuntament Vell" will host work from students in a drawing and painting course taught by Teresa Matilla.

The exhibition showcases students' work using various approaches, including oil and acrylics and combinations of impasto, recycling and volumetric techniques. In the words of Matilla, "the art of creation mobilises the experiences that have nourished the artist and must come from an inner impulse". She added that students were free to decide on which path of study they followed in the creation of their pieces. Themes featured in the display will therefore be varied, with techniques and styles proposed by the students themselves.

The opening is scheduled for Monday 4 April at 6.00pm. The exhibition will be open Tuesday to Saturday, 11.00am to 2.00pm and 6.00pm to 8.00pm.

31 March 2022
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera

cartell 2022 alumnat tm

With exhumation at Sant Francesc cemetery, search begins for the remains of victims of Formentera prison

Wednesday, 30 March 2022 11:42

foto 2022 exhumacio A This Wednesday, the Balearic Government has started efforts to exhume Sant Francesc cemetery in an effort to locate the remains of the individuals who lost their lives at Es Campament penitentiary in La Savina.

According to documentation of the day and a study carried out by Eivissa historian Antoni Ferrer Abárzuza as part of the Second Graves Plan of the Balearic Government, 58 individuals —in most cases from Extremadura and Murcia, but to a lesser extent from Madrid, Catalonia, the Canary Islands, Valencia and the Balearic Islands— died at the penitentiary between 1940 and 1942 due to food shortages and unhygienic and unsanitary conditions.

The first day of exhumation work was attended by Ana Juan, President of the Consell de Formentera; Alejandra Ferrer, Vice President of the Consell; Jesús Jurado, Secretary of Productive Sectors and Democratic Memory of the Balearic Government; Rafael Ramírez, Councillor of Social Welfare; Raquel Guasch, Councillor of Heritage; Marc Andreu Herrera, Balearic Director General of Democratic Memory, and Lluís Ruiz and Artur Parrón, President and Vice President of the Eivissa-Formentera Forum for Memory and members of the Graves and Disappeared Persons Commission.

"Restoring victims' dignity"

President Juan shared her hope that "the work started this week will lead to uncovering the remains, certifying what the historical studies tell us and, above all, restoring dignity to the 58 who died in the penitentiary of La Savina and to their families". The President applauded the shared efforts of administrations and the Eivissa-Formentera Forum for Memory.

"The goal is to find and identify them, return them to their families and recover their memory", explained Secretary Jurado, who described the process as "opening up the graves in order to close the wounds". "This is a democratic debt that is still outstanding", Jurado continued, "and we are absolutely committed to righting it".

The aforementioned study, together with the testimonies and documentation collected by memorial associations, indicates that the remains could be buried in the neighbouring cementeri nou in Sant Francesc, located just 3 km from the Franco regime's military colony.

This Tuesday, to confirm whether the individuals who died at the prison were buried at the Sant Francesc cemetery, and whether their mortal remains are still where they were buried, the Aranzadi Science Society began taking steps to perform the exhumation, an intervention included in the Balearic Government's Third Plan for Graves of the Civil War and Francoism 2021-2022.

Crews will begin their efforts at the esplanade of earth in front of the main gate of Sant Francesc cemetery, specifically between rows 1 and 6 on the right side, and they will work under old tombs currently in disuse from between the 1960s and 1980s. This area was indicated as a possible burial place of victims, both by the testimonies gathered during the search and the gravedigger at the cemetery.

Additional work will be conducted in an area that was pointed up as a possible burial site by the Eivissa-Formentera Forum for Memory and included in the Map of Graves of the Balearic Government. That site is a little farther west, in front of a block of columbaria.

The regional government, in collaboration with Eivissa-Formentera Forum for Memory and other memorial associations, researchers and specialists including the Aranzadi Science Society, and the Junta de Extremadura, has already begun looking for DNA of relatives who can help to name the victims of Franco's regime who died at the La Savina camp and were buried in Sant Francesc's cementeri nou.

This is the second time that the Balearic Government participates in a local exhumation. The first was in 2017, when the Eivissa-Formentera Forum for Memory called for an exhumation at the parish cemetery of Sant Ferran. Those operations were carried out by the Aranzadi Science Society with grants from the Balearic Government and the collaboration of the Consell de Formentera.