On Saturday, April 13, the platform "The Princess stays in Sierra Espuña" has made an informative event at the Archaeological Museum of Murcia, about the current situation of the so-called "princely tomb" of the archaeological site of La Almoloya ( Pliego).
The platform represents a common initiative of citizen movements born in three municipalities with important archaeological sites from the Bronze Age: Mula, Pliego and Totana.
The tomb in question was found by a team of archaeologists from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2014, and it contained an impressive trousseau with little comparison in other sites of the culture of El Argar (2200-1550 BCE).
It is a large ceramic urn, containing a couple composed of a man and the most famous "princess."
His trousseau includes a silver diadem and several objects of gold, silver, amber, semiprecious stones, copper and ceramics.
For reasons of security, and supposedly until the City of Mula Museum completed the adequacy works (financed with European funds), the grave tomb 38 was temporarily deposited in the Archaeological Museum of Murcia.
Currently, the exhibition space of Mula is about to be inaugurated, but the regional government, apparently based on technical support from the community, has decided that the entire grave should be exhibited in Murcia for its "uniqueness".
This would result in a separation of the collection of materials from the La Almoloya deposit, since everything else is currently deposited in the Ciudad de Mula Museum.
The platform that has now been created requests from the Ministry of Tourism and Culture that the collection of La Almoloya not be "decapitated" and that the tomb be integrated with the rest of the materials.
Pedro Noguera, mayor of Pliego, Juan Jesús Moreno, mayor of Mula, and Andrés García, mayor of Totana, were invited to the event.
The mayors of these municipalities, which are part of the Mancomunidad de Sierra Espuña, committed themselves to the demand of the platform.
As an engine for cultural tourism, the three insisted that the presence of La Almoloya materials in the Ciudad de Mula Museum, the closest geographically to the site, is fundamental for the development of economically disadvantaged areas of the interior.
Juan Jesús Moreno has stressed unanimity in this purpose in his consistory, beyond the political "color".
The mayors of Mula and Pliego also announced that when Pliego can count on a legally constituted space as a museum, the collection of La Almoloya materials could come to it, given that the site belongs mainly to this municipality.
Invited to the event were also the members of the team of archaeologists of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, ​​responsible for the excavation, research and conservation of the materials recovered in La Almoloya.
When asked about the suitability of the objects of the tomb were guarded and exposed in Mula, the team of archaeologists argued that there was no technical reason for the princely tomb had to stay in the Archaeological Museum of Murcia, separate from the rest of the collection.
At the end of the meeting, it was again stressed that the link between territory and heritage was fundamental for the development of the underprivileged regions of the interior and also to encourage local tourism from the capital.
To bring the citizen's claim to fruition, the unitary platform called for the solidarity of Murcia with Pliego and Mula and that the competent authorities understand the importance for the development of these municipalities that "the princess stays (definitely) in Sierra Espuña" .
