Preserving the legacy of Bayra, original site of Vera in Almeria

VERA is committed to preserving its cultural heritage linked to Cerro del Espiritu Santo.
This was the site of Bayra, founded in the Ninth Century and abandoned after it was destroyed by earthquake on November 9, 1518.
Vera town hall’s acquisition of the Cerro del Espiritu Santo land, an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC), combined with its Master Plan are both directed at protecting the Cerro.
This will not only enable the municipality to investigate its history but also give the Bayra site the importance it deserves as a tourist attraction, making it a mainstay of local development.
The first excavations by the University of Granada were carried out in the spring of 2021, generating international interest and providing sound motives for extending the BIC status and Vera’s ambitious “Bayra, mediaeval city” project.
The initial dig shed more light on the 1518 earthquake and the population’s reaction to the catastrophe with preliminary finds presented to the public for the first time at the Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos on January 18 this year.
“The archaeological campaign, promoted by Vera town hall and carried out by Granada University investigators, has now reached one of the country’s principal museums, which also houses the discoveries located at Burgos’s supremely important Atapuerca site,” town hall sources said.