A first step towards the recovery of the Batería de Arinaga, in Gran Canaria, has been taken by the Directorate General of Culture and Cultural Heritage of the Government of the Canary Islands. A technical visit to the site brought together the Director General Miguel Ángel Clavijo; the insular director of Historical Heritage of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, Sebastián López; the mayor of Agüimes, Óscar Hernández, and the archaeologist Artemi Alejandro-Medina.
The meeting fostered a joint working space among the administrations with competencies and interests in the conservation of the site, aiming to establish a roadmap for its progressive and rigorous recovery. The current state and potential actions for the complex were analyzed.
The initial phase will focus on obtaining a technical diagnosis and a specialist document that determines conservation needs, priority actions, and the phases of future intervention. The goal is to precisely understand the battery's condition and document its values.
Miguel Ángel Clavijo highlighted the importance of bringing together the competent administrations to work jointly on the enclave's future. He noted that the recovery of a heritage space of this nature must be approached in phases: understanding and documenting, setting priorities, defining interventions, and seeking funding.
Cooperation between administrations is crucial. The visit aims to foster a working contact between the Government of the Canary Islands, the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, and the Agüimes City Council, along with specialists, to build a common roadmap and explore a collaboration agreement.
The Government of the Canary Islands is developing a research project on the contemporary defensive heritage of Gran Canaria, analyzing structures such as coastal batteries and bunkers, particularly those built during the first half of the 20th century. The research combines documentary sources and fieldwork.
Archaeologist Artemi Alejandro-Medina leads this research, which has contributed to the knowledge of this heritage and its relation to the international context of World War II. For Clavijo, the Batería de Arinaga is part of the memory and defensive heritage of Gran Canaria.
