Palma City Council has announced that graffiti on the old wall of the city is now being cleaned.
Aluminum silicate is being used to get rid of the graffiti on a 1,450 metre stretch of the old wall, between Hort del Rei and the Baluard del Príncep.
A number of tests were done to decide which chemical to use and the aluminium silicate was approved by the Historical Centre Commission and the Heritage Department, because it guarantees the conservation of the sand that makes up the wall.
Last August, Refoart was given a four year, 794,035 euro contract, which includes removing graffiti from the wall; getting rid of weeds; maintenance and reconstruction of mortar joints; replacing marès pieces and preparing projects and reports.
The weeds have already been removed in the sector of the wall closest to l'Hort del Rei and when the entire project is finished, the Heritage Department will replace the pieces of marès.
Palma Mayor, Jose Hila visited the first cleaning point on Monday and admitted that it had been difficult to find a company to do this specialist task, which requires qualified and highly experienced personnel.
"He is cleaning the graffiti on the entire wall because it is our heritage and we cannot allow it to be painted," said Mayor Hila who pointed out that anyone caught daubing graffiti will face criminal charges.
Deputy Mayor for Infrastructures & Accessibility, Angélica Pastor, explained why the Historic Centre Commission decided to use aluminum silicate.
“It’s an aggregate that applies pressure and causes paint to flake and when the tests were done it was found to be the most effective and least aggressive method,” she said.
If you spot graffiti you can report it by sending an email to officeantigrafits@palma.cat.
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Congratulations and well done to Palma City Council! It’s about time that all councils took firm action against this hideous environmental visual pollution and criminal damage, and the police need to hunt down the offenders.