Valencia Cathedral, a criticized construction site

Around fifty archaeologists gathered in front of the building at the beginning of November to denounce the lack of excavations carried out ahead of the development work launched at the square. While the excavators are busy bringing to fruition the project of a monumental staircase which should connect the lower and upper town at the foot of the cathedral, the demonstrators are calling for the suspension of the construction site to carry out an emergency excavation. In September, a petition was launched against what they consider to be an infringement of the heritage code, since “the plot impacted by this development work is known to contain exceptional remains”, including those of a paleo-Christian baptistery from the 5th century. According to archaeologists, the construction site would endanger these remains and irremediably compromise their knowledge, while some are still only partially documented. Justifying its choice of not having prescribed prior excavations, the Drac (regional directorate of cultural affairs) Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes affirms that the operations carried out are not likely to affect the archaeological elements, also recalling that an agent from the regional archeology service is present on site to guarantee the protection of the remains. An insufficient measure according to the mobilized archaeologists, who consider that the operations would inevitably damage them since they are only buried about twenty centimeters deep.