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DEVELOPMENT PLAN
The development of the objectives proposed in the previous chapter
bring us to the next tool for planning and management, "the Development
Plan for Vilars 2000."
The global aim of the Development Plan for Vilars 2000 is to present
the 21st century society with an excavated, restored and partially
reconstructed Ilergetian fortress, a monument to be visited, which
has been provided with the necessary services to make it a living
social and cultural reality and an active research project linked
with the University of Lleida (UdL). As well as this, it should
constitute a motor for economic and cultural stimulation for the
western districts of Catalonia, becoming a obligatory reference
point for cultural tourism in the area and a basic support for
teaching and the spreading of our history.
The Development Plan is conceived as a combination of three technical
constitutional documents, plus two complementary, instrumental
documents. The latter two, destined to guarantee the dissemination
and promotion of the project, are "
Vilars 2000; an Ilergetian fortress from 2,700 tears ago", the
book you have in your hands, and "Virtual Vilars", produced in
collaboration with the Department of Computer Engineering of the
University of Lleida (UdL) and aimed at developing, through computerised
support and multi-media techniques, a new type of archaeological
documentation and, at the same time, a tool for promotion based
on the possibilities for the virtual recreation of the past.
The development of this future project will be carried out through
the Development Plan conceived in two phases. The first during
1997, 1998 and 1999 and the second from the year 2000 on. These
two phases will be developed in accordance with the following
three technical working documents:
1st Phase: Archaeological research and planning
1. "Project for archaeological excavations, research and documentation"
The aim is to procede with the integral excavation of the fortress,
except for the area destined as a scientific reservation. The
idea is to have all the necessary information available for the
writing of the "Project for the consolidation, restoration and
recreation of Vilars" and to leave the archaeological site in
condition to carry it out.. That means defining the excavations
needed to delimit the site, the external defences, the accesses
and the internal street plan, as well as the extensive excavation
of the houses and the various communal structures and spaces and
to do so in a "phased" way, or put another way, deciding as progress
goes along which stage of each zone will be shown to the public,
depending on its state of conservation, its specific significance
and the necessary global understanding of the site.
The project is the responsibility of the archaeologists with the
collaboration of the rest of the team, especially the architects.
2. "Special archaeological protection and zoning plan for Vilars"
The objective is to complete the process of acquiring the plots
affected, solve the infrastructure deficiencies and develop the
protection of the BCIN declaration, in the category of archaeological
zone.
The aim is, firstly, to distribute the space (archaeological research
area, protection area, service area), along with situating the
installations, defining accesses and the link to the road, this
latter programmed to be carried out in 1997 as a FEDER project
between the European Union and the Arbeca Council.
Secondly, the aim is to establish the basic directives for working
on the heritage, under both general philosophical and technical
criteria. Consolidate to conserve, reconstruct volumes to recover
the monumental dimension and restore locally to make certain areas
understandable. The clear distinction between the original and
the reconstructed parts and the materials used will have to guarantee
the reversibility of all work. This will be carried out on individualised
stratographic constructed units, respecting the original materials
and construction techniques (type of stone, disposition, formwork,
adobe, etc.) and producing a rigurous documental register of all
the structures acted upon.
The architects are responsible for the Plan with the collaboration
of the rest of the team, especially the archaeologists.
2nd Phase: Intervention, consolidation and setting.
3. "Project for the consolidation, and recreation of Vilars"
The objective is to prepare the proposal for the presentation of
the whole historical/monumental site to the public. This involves
the definition of the consolidation treatment and the restoring
of the archaeological remains, as well as the work aimed at recreating
the surroundings which call for the use of didactic, leisure and
cultural functions. the preservation of heritage values and the
recovery and dissemination of historical information make up the
axes of the project. The instrument for carrying nthis out would
be an ordinary Building Project.
The responsibility for the Project must be shared among a mixed
technical group of archaeologists and architects. The part corresponding
to museo-graphic dissemination and treatment will require the
collaboration of professionals from the field of history teaching,
from cultural dissemination and institutions such as the Institute
of Educational Sciences (ICE).
The project will require the institutional collaboration through
a management entity where Arbeca Town Council, the University
of Lleida, the Archaeological Service, the District Council, the
Diputació of Lleida, the Institute of Educational Sciences and
the Department of Education will all be represented. There will
also have to be an agreement for management and investment subscribed
to by the Catalan Autonomous Government (Generalitat), the District
Council, the Diputació of Lleida and Arbeca Town Council.
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