The Torre-saura Foundation confirms its commitment to Menorcan society and culture
In addition to financing social and educational initiatives and projects to restore historical and cultural heritage, which have been underway since 2021, the Torre-saura Foundation will open the count’s house to the public in 2022, organizing guided tours during the summer months.
Visits to Cas Comte
The Foundation’s Board entrusted the guided tours initiative to the company Talaia Cultura SL, and it has been very well received by the public. From June 30, when the activity began, to September 30, a total of 31 visits were conducted, most of them in Catalan and Spanish.
The results of the experience recommend maintaining and improving the service for future seasons. Talaia Cultura SL is already working on refurbishing new rooms in the palace and recovering furniture and valuable pieces from the county’s art collection to extend the tour and offer more information about the history of one of the island’s leading families.
Recovery of the Torre-saura County documentary collection
In 2021, the president of the Foundation, Mr. Roger Zannier, decided to recover and organize the county’s important documentary collection. Since then, expert archivists and restorers from the company Talaia Cultura SL, under the direction of historian Antoni Camps Extremera, have been applying basic conservation-restoration treatment to each of the documents in the archive. This treatment consists of dry cleaning, ironing the paper, and opening a documentary register where each document is described for subsequent placement in preservation units.
To date, almost 82.000 documents have been treated, some of them dating from the second half of the 16th century, although the largest volume belongs to the period between the 17th and 19th centuries.
Aware of the historical value of the existing documentary collection in the County of Torre-saura, the Foundation’s Board has decided to continue financing the recovery work that has been started.
Funding for social economy and educational initiatives
In 2022, the Torre-saura Foundation allocated a total of €75.000 to fund social economy and educational initiatives. It did so in collaboration with Cáritas Diocesana de Menorca and the state-subsidized schools in Ciutadella: Nostra Senyora de la Consolació and Sant Francesc de Sales.
With the agreement signed at the end of the year with Cáritas, for a total of €65.000, the Foundation will finance aid to guarantee decent housing for families in need in Ciutadella, finance scholarships for job training workshops for the Mestral Ciutadella project, and finance job placement contracts for the Ca n’Aguedet project in Es Mercadal.
The Foundation’s collaboration with state-subsidized private schools, valued at just over €11.000, will be used to purchase school supplies and computer equipment for students from vulnerable families at both schools.
Restoration of the palace’s exterior façades
One of the main objectives of the Foundation chaired by Mr. Roger Zannier is to work on the restoration of the extensive architectural heritage of the Torre-saura properties. Every year, it allocates a large part of its financial resources to this end. In this regard, it has been decided that the main architectural restoration project to be carried out in 2023 will be the restoration of the main façades of Cas Comte palace, the south façade, which opens onto Major des Born Street, and the west façade, which overlooks Es Born Square.
