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Caravaca de la Cruz has a new public square and it came with a surprise. Work on Plaza José María Faquineto, which opened on Tuesday September 30 on a previously unused plot beside Calle Nueva and Callejón de Frías, unearthed an old traditional wine cellar beneath the site, complete with 23 ceramic jars still partially buried in the ground and the original channels used to carry grape must.

 

The Ayuntamiento plans to preserve and open it as an educational and exhibition space, giving visitors a glimpse into a winemaking tradition that shaped the local economy before phylloxera wiped out the region's vineyards at the end of the 1800s.

 

The square itself covers around 300 square metres within the Historic-Artistic Site, and has been designed to sit sympathetically within its surroundings, with terracotta and cobblestone paving, wrought iron detailing, landscaped areas, trees, benches and a circular ornamental fountain at its centre. There is also a children's play area, and a large mural on one of the walls reproducing a historical photograph of the Wine Horses, one of Caravaca's most distinctive cultural traditions.

 

The project cost €185,500, funded through European Next Generation funds and the Region of Murcia's Works and Services Plan. It forms part of the broader Camino a Caravaca Tourism Sustainability Plan, which has channelled nearly €5 million into around twenty projects across the town.

 

Mayor José Francisco García described the plaza as the plan's final chapter. "Each of these projects contributes to bringing life back to our historic centre, creating new public spaces, improving the urban environment, and making our historic neighbourhoods increasingly livable, accessible, and enjoyable for residents," he said.

 

The square is named after José María Faquineto, a 19th-century civil engineer and politician born on the same Calle Nueva where the square now stands. He was instrumental in improving communications in and around Caravaca, linked to projects including the Calasparra station road, bridges over the Argos and Quípar rivers, and the arrival of both the telegraph and the railway.

 

The new square sits alongside Los Huertos del Vicario, the neighbouring green space that won the Region of Murcia Architecture Prize for its own regeneration work on this site.

 

 

Images: Ayuntamiento de Caravaca