*4.1. Balnearios*

To interpret the heritage landscape as it is seen today, transformation in this region has almost always coexisted with the sea, ranging from the maritime exploitation of the lagoon to the traditional medicinal or therapeutic uses of the inhabited regions of the Mar Menor. This is demonstrated by the remains of Roman baths, as well as the construction of the Hotel de la Encarnación, which occurred centuries before that of Los Alcázares [85]. On some of the Mar Menor islands, the remains of sites intended for relaxation and pleasure can still be found, such as the residential complex of the Isla Mayor, also known as Isla del Barón, which owes its nickname to the property and buildings constructed by Julio Falcó d'Adda, Baron of Benifayó, the descendent of a Savoy family. The island served as one of the family's summer residences in the region during the 19th and 20th centuries [86].

The development of maritime leisure activities from the end of the 19th century until 1960 produced the old agricultural villages in vacation locations, including Lo Pagán, Santiago de la Ribera, Los Nietos, and Los Alcázares, which were inhabited by a population that moved to the coast for several weeks in the summer months to take baths. During that time, companies and services were installed that were permanently established near the mid-20th century.

At the same time that the leisure houses were built, in front of them, the *balnearios* were also built. These were wooden platforms that entered the sea so that bathers could comfortably enter the water. Each family built a corresponding spa in front of their villa. This created spatial importance between the house and the sea. Thus, *balnearios* served as an extension of the privacy of the residence. This

even extended to formal details, and especially in Los Alcázares and Los Nietos, until the end of the 20th century, where some family residences exhibited decorative features, colors, and portico designs, which were the for the house and the spa and, in some cases, details were included that identified the family.

As Gutiérrez-Cortines [87] has stated, these bathing platforms played a role from the point of view of land use, since they served to alleviate overcrowding on the beaches and provided a solution to the rocks and mud on the shore. As of 1965, high apartment buildings were constructed, and once again, spas were built in front of these buildings that were 500 to 1000 m2, and fulfilled the same social function as social interaction spaces, also serving as moorings for pleasure boats and jetties for water sports. However, with the construction of artificial beaches and the increased demand for space for bathrooms, the *balnearios* were considered to be obsolete pieces in the maritime landscape as of 1990.

These *balnearios* were not only intended for bathing or mooring boats, as is the case today, but some, practically from the outset, were also used for social gatherings in the form of literary or intellectual gatherings, dancing, and other leisurely pursuits. The construction of the yacht club in la Ribera in 1918, which was known as the Casino Marítimo de la Ribera, is an example of this trend. In 1971, this casino was transformed into the current building, the Real Club de Regattas de Santiago of la Ribera.

From the 1960s onward, the combination of the mass tourism phenomenon, new building techniques, the exhaustion of the traditional tourism model, and the development of extensive legislation under Spain's new democratic government meant that a series of legal and economic circumstances in the 1980s led to the disappearance of the majority of the bathing houses. Mar Menor underwent a form of intervention that transformed the region to fit the mold of modernity being sought at that time. The Project for the Rehabilitation of the Beaches was launched by the Coastal Commission, which depended on the Ministry for Public Works and Urban Planning [88]. Its aim was to create artificial beaches that would facilitate bathing and the enjoyment of the seaside, and this drastically affected the traditional image of the coast and led to the elimination of the majority of the maritime buildings.

In 1987, the Committee for Culture of the Region of Murcia began the process of designating the complex of the Mar Menor *balnearios* as a BIC to protect and conserve these fragile maritime architectural structures. However, this measure was never implemented and only a limited form of the initial project led to the conservation of some bathing houses, either due to their singular value, or their good state of conservation, or because their social or economic role permitted it. However, in the majority of the cases, this measure only managed to delay an inevitable decline, as was the case with the Lonja, the historic municipal fishmongers, and the restaurant the Pescadería de Mariche. In the latter case, despite its kitchens having conserved long-established seafood traditions of sampling the caldero de mújol (a stewed mullet dish) by the edge of the Mar Menor, the restaurant could not stave off demise following the Coastal Commission's cessation of the temporary concession of 50 to 100 years that it had been granted when it opened.

This is the aspect that has begun to work with the community of neighbors. The awareness of the planned construction being a solution for the regeneration and use of beaches through the construction of new maritime platforms is based on the tradition of the oldest construction in the area. Therefore, awareness campaigns are being conducted at the administration level through advice and meetings with experts. Conferences are being promoted within the communities with publication of informative brochures about the history and traditional uses of these popular locations [88].

What objectives have been set for these actions? At the level of local governance, the strategy of maintaining the affected and protected structures has been reported (Table 1), which would have been maintained according to traditional construction systems. On an economic level, this would entail a lowering of costs and their maintenance would require traditional crafts such as additional works of wood, network systems, and esparto. The strategy would help improve an innovative, unique offer for bathing in the sea and attract new tourism. The local community would benefit because it would lead to tourists continuing to be attracted to the area.

The Hotel Los Arcos in La Ribera, opened in August 1960 by Adrián Viudes Guirao with its beach resort, is an example that could be recovered as an example of the contemporary policy of attracting quality national and international tourism. In 1981, after being closed for several years, Hotel Los Arcos was transformed into a hospital. In early 2011, the hospital was transferred to Pozo Aledo and the empty building, currently and provisionally, is a training center for the San Javier regattas, but is waiting for a project that to confirm its position as a historic element in Santiago de la Ribera (Figure 2).

**Figure 2.** Bathing houses at Hotel Los Arcos and Santiago de la Ribera, part of the municipality of San Javier, 1965, Murcia [89].
