According to an announcement from the Office of Patrimony of the Formentera Council, this week a restoration team from Universitat Politècnica de València specially trained in historical heritage sites will begin mapping and studying potential obstacles at the can Ramon building site. According to office head Councillor Susana Labrador, the present studies will lay the groundwork for future upgrades of the building.
The team of ten specialists is led by Dr Fernando Vegas, senior lecturer at Universitat Politècnica and member of the drafting committee of Spain's national plan for traditional architecture. The group's work is expected to conclude in four months and cost €21,659.
Historical context of can Ramon
At the same time, archaeologist Glenda Graziani is heading up another historical study on past building efforts at can Ramon, thus complying with Formentera's subsidiary regulations on architecture as established in the local catalogue of cultural heritage sites. Graziani's project carries a cost of €6,625.
Future ethnographic museum
The current work, which began only after building studies and other preparations had been completed, must precede the building's actual restoration. Can Ramon, including the house and historical well found on the property, was acquired by the Formentera Council on the premise that the restored building be used to house “Formentera's store of public and privately-held museographic collections on ethnography”.
Precise chronological records for the house have yet to be defined. More modern estimates put its construction in the mid to late 1800s, though certain features of the property could come from the eighteenth century. Can Ramon is given protection level C on Formentera's catalogue of cultural heritage sites. It is a traditional rural home, albeit with larger than normal dimensions, where farming and livestock operations were very nearly industrial in scale. Today, the catalogue details how can Ramon's operators even made wine on site. Given its traditional architecture, the adjacent well is also included on the catalogue. It possesses protection level A.