The bullring in Orihuela

The new Orihuela bullring could become a reality by mid-2010.

Last week the Mayoress of Orihuela, Monica Lorente and the Town Planning Councillor Antonio Rodriguez Barbera, along with bullfighters and people associated with the bullfighting world, unveiled the project.

Lorente called it ‘the most important of our term because we are going to recover a unique space and turn it into a multifunctional arena with capacity for 8,000 people and nearly 500 parking spaces’.

The Orihuela bullring, which was first inaugurated in 1907, had to be closed down in 1986 due to the extremely poor state of repair it had been allowed to fall into. Since then, the town has had no bullring except on some occasions when a temporary metal structure has been set up during local festivities.

The project has been allocated a budget of 3,429,640 euros. The car park, which will have capacity for almost 500 cars, will cost an additional sum of 7,655,865 euros.