Theatre Sala Ciutat

Municipality: Manresa

Province: Barcelona

Chronology: Late Medieval and Modern

Developer: Criteria Caixa SAU

Dates: November 2015-February 2016

This theatre was built in the 60s on the site of the old church of Sant Francesc, demolished in 1937. Due to the urban development of the building of the Museu Comarcal and its adjacent spaces an archaeological intervention was conducted. It consisted of the archaeological moni-toring of the demolition of the City Hall, and the consequent archaeological documentation of the remains of the temple, covering an area of 800m2. The intervention was led by the archaeologists Jordi Morera and Adrià Cubo. All the basements and the various pavements of the church of Sant Francesc, built in the first half of the 18th century, were documented. It was formed by a single nave with four side chapels on both sides, crowned by an apse in the presbytery area. The building was incorporated into the convent and its rooms, some of which also appeared surrounding the absidial area. The intervention also served to confirm the existence of a previous occupation to the construction of the temple, probably originated in the Late Medieval period, which were defined by the location of some walls and a whole series of rectangular structures cut into the rocky substratum. These rock-cut structures were probably related to a leather factory, as indicated by the historical documentation of that moment.