Talaiotic Menorca: Torretrencada

Today we continue our route through Talaiotic Menorca with a visit to the village of Torretrencada which is in the municipality of Ciutadella on the land of the estates of Torretrencada and Torrefullada. As previously mentioned in Discovery Menorca, its most spectacular monument is its taula as you will see further on.

For now lets start at the beginning of the visit. The main interests are its talaiot, the talaiot enclosure, the walls and foundations and a pillar.  The talaiot has a circular floor which can’t be seen in all its splendour because of the rocks that have fallen over a long period of time.  You can see the foundations of the circular houses and the column or pilaster and a square section near a natural cave retouched by its prehistoric inhabitants.  The most outstanding feature, as we said at the beginning, is the taula where one can see a reinforcing pilaster on the inside.  You will also see that the only part of the village wall that has been preserved is inside a dry stone wall.

In addition to the Torretrencada village monuments there is also a series of artificial underground or hypogeal caves.  The first is at the entrance of the enclosure and the second is near the talaiot although its access has been altered in recent times. The third can be seen to the east of the taula, a hypostyle hall with a column that supports slabs placed on top. In this cave rainwater was collected and stored for use throughout the year.  The last of the caves can be found by the side of a track leading to a vegetable garden.

Incidentally, it is worth knowing that during the excavations of this village a bronze figure was found representing the god Jupiter and two bullets of a lead sling from Roman times.  Findings confirm that we are looking at one of the greatest monuments of all time.