When the Palacio Villalón in Malaga was transformed into the Thyssen Museum, a special find was made. Roman remains were in the basement of the property. After years of research and work, a visit to the Roman site is possible from 2022.
The municipality of Malaga, together with the Thyssen Museum, has made every effort to be able to show the archaeological remains in situ to the public. In 2011, they converted the Palacio Villalón into the Thyssen Museum. At that time, authorities knew about the Roman remains. Over the years, there have been several floods, which were disastrous for the preservation of the remains.
Perfect balance in temperature and humidity is extremely important
Experts worked to keep the water away from the Roman remains as much as possible. Yet it still appears to be difficult to keep both the temperature and the humidity balanced at this location. Now this is almost ready , experts will spend the rest of this year working on how to make the space accessible to the public.
The city council informed the Spanish news site Malagahoy.es the final touches are underway. Among other things, the cellar must be fully insulated and the perfect temperature calculated to optimally preserve these finds.
Visit possible: maximum 10 people per group and at intervals
On Tuesday, the council announced visits to the Roman remains will take place in groups of up to ten people. There must also be a minimum of 30 minutes between each visiting group to avoid too many fluctuations in temperature and humidity.
The municipality of Malaga expects to be working on this project in 2021. However, it said visitors will probably be able to see the Roman remains from 2022. The expected costs for preparing the space for a visit are between €300,000 and €350,000.
