Alcudia and its grand archaeology centre

Sa Tanca de Can Domènech, as this land is known, has a clear association with Pollentia. Casal Can Domènech was bought by the Pollentia Consortium for 600,000 euros in 2003, five years after the death of William Junior Bryant and seven years after the Bryant Foundation had ceased to be active. From 1957, the old house in the town, once the property of the Domènech noble family, had been the headquarters of the American-funded foundation, which had been so important in pursuing the excavations of Pollentia and in establishing Alcudia as a centre for American and Spanish research into Roman archaeology.

Years on, therefore, the town hall and the Council were talking about a centre which in a sense would revive what had at one time existed - a centre for archaeological research, namely Casal Can Domènech that a combination of town hall, Council and Balearic Government (the consortium) had bought in 2003. Was a new centre needed? They clearly thought so.

Sa Tanca belonged to a hotelier. If there had ever been an idea to build a hotel on the site, that possibility had long passed. So it wasn't especially productive land, but was nevertheless valued at 1.2 million euros. The plan was hatched for the Council of Mallorca to pay this with tourist tax revenue. That plan fell through, and the site was finally bought in 2020 for a sum of just over one million by the three members of the consortium; the cost was divided equally between the three.

The green light has now been given to the building of the centre. Following four months of excavation and investigation, archaeologists have concluded that there are no Roman remains that would prevent the construction. There is evidence of some agricultural remains, but these are not considered to be relevant. The Council of Mallorca will therefore now proceed with drafting the basic project.

The councillor for culture and heritage, Antònia Roca, says: "With the confirmation (by archaeologists), we are taking another step towards making the Mallorca Archaeology Centre a reality. It is essential for preserving, studying and disseminating our heritage. The objective is to centralise and publicise the archaeological wealth of Mallorca, bringing our history closer to both the public and researchers."

For the mayor of Alcudia, Fina Linares, the centre will be "a very important reference point that will give a strong boost to the Roman city of Pollentia". "We have launched a special plan for Pollentia. And together with the archaeology centre, everything will become a joint space in which the town of Alcudia will be connected to the Roman site, creating an important attraction for those who visit us."

There we have it then. The special plan for Pollentia includes tourism, the excavations having long been an attraction of sorts for tourists but never in great numbers. You don't actually want great numbers traipsing across the site. But there is a tourism niche to which the expanded Pollentia could well be appealing. Mallorca has long harboured ambitions for archaeological tourism but without ever really having done anything to attract it.

This centre will house a museum. There are currently some 40,000 archaeological pieces stored away without any public access. In addition, there are items from the sea. The centre, it has always been promised, will have a specialist underwater research facility. And this should act as an impetus to properly charting marine sites and going some way to stopping the pilfering. No one has any idea how much treasure has been taken, and it is treasure in that it all belongs to the state.

An aspect of the announcement about the centre that does perhaps need clarifying concerns future excavations. The archaeologists say there are no remains, and one assumes they mean in a specific area. Part of the reason for acquiring Sa Tanca was the promise of revealing more of the Roman city, soundings having indicated that there are remains buried there, which is as one might expect. Pollentia covered a considerably larger area than the current excavation site. It will never be fully exposed because it was built on.

There is one other matter. This concerns the cost and who will actually pay for the centre. No one has mentioned this so far. And when might it finally be built? It has taken nine years to get where we are now. How many more will be needed? Does the building, moreover, come with a potential planning snag? Is Sa Tanca not 'rustic' land?