Formentera buys Sa Senieta with help from regional government

Foto sa senieta 2Yesterday, Formentera Council president Jaume Ferrer sat down with a spokesperson of the proprietors of Sa Senieta to sign a bill of sale for the protected €2.5-million property. Of that total, one million will come from the so-called “Sustainable Tourism Tax”, another half million will be bankrolled by the Govern balear's department of culture, community involvement and sport and the remainder will be paid for by the Formentera Council.

The cultural value of the edifice is monumental; Sa Senieta is the only estate on the island protected under a piece of legislation known as Ley 12/1998, of December 21, on historical heritage in the Balearics. Included under the tag AT-C-150 on the island's catalogue of cultural assets in 2002, the site is designated for level B protection.

Sa Senieta presents a one of a kind example of traditional Formentera architecture for a variety of reasons. First because the building contains two fairly large dwellings with a more complex distribution than is typical on the island. Second, having escaped renovation, Sa Senieta is relatively well maintained. As such, stylings, materials and finishes are all original work. And third because, until more extensive investigations prove otherwise, current historical knowledge situates the construction of the home and lot on which it sits in the eighteenth century.

The purchase of Sa Senieta squares with the island's 2017-2019 directive on the restoration, conservation and acquisition of cultural heritage assets, which favours sites with significant patrimonial protection and those in advanced states of disrepair.