April 23, 2024. The Council of Ministers, at the proposal of the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, has approved the extension of the execution of emergency works in the Walls of Ciudad Rodrigo (Salamanca). The new intervention of the Ministry of Culture will involve an investment of 417,735.63 euros, which will be added to the initial 649,530.91 euros, with an extended period of six months.
The action consists of undertaking the work of stabilizing a section of the wall that was being subjected to structural study during the work of consolidating the initial of the emergency work, approved in the Council of Ministers of 20 March 2023. The extension, focused on the section of Calle Puerta de Santiago and Hospital, will follow the lines of action and criteria established for the work already begun, expanding the works of archaeological monitoring, consolidation of factories or sewn, already defined in the initial work, to stabilize this section of the fortification.
The proposal of the emergency action was motivated after the collapse of a part of the wall located in the Plaza de Herrasti, next to the Cathedral of Santa Maria, on January 2, 2023. The technicians of the General Subdirectorate of the Institute of Cultural Heritage of Spain (IPCE) of the Ministry of Culture, proceeded to inspect the affected area, as well as the rest of the wall, to detect other possible areas that could present stability problems.
In this sense, it was found that there were several sections distributed along its entire perimeter that presented an imminent danger of detachment, so it was considered, not only to act on the collapse produced but, in addition, in those areas whose stability was compromised.
The Walls of Ciudad Rodrigo are declared a Property of Cultural Interest with the category of Artistic Historical Complex by Decree of March 29, 1944. They consist of two lines of walls that form an oval shaped belt around the city, with a length of approximately 2,200 meters and are flanked by five towers.