First of all, we should know the criteria to sites to become part of World Heritage to better understand the importance and RESPONSABILITY of having them inside of our borders
What we show here is just the collection of parts of UNESCO offcial website summarized.
We also collected information from all sites which are included their list and also located in Galicia. So, Galicia Alive just grouped all UNESCO website information to related to Galicia.
Selection Criteria of World Heritage
To be included on the World Heritage List, sites must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria.
These criteria are explained in the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention which, besides the text of the Convention, is the main working tool on World Heritage. The criteria are regularly revised by the Committee to reflect the evolution of the World Heritage concept itself.
Until the end of 2004, World Heritage sites were selected on the basis of six cultural and four natural criteria. With the adoption of the revised Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, only one set of ten criteria exists.
Selection criteria
- to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius;
- to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design;
- to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared;
- to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history;
- to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change;
- to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria);
- to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;
- to be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth’s history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features;
- to be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;
- to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.
| Operational Guidelines (year) |
Cultural criteria |
Natural criteria |
||||||||
| 2002 | (i) | (ii) | (iii) | (iv) | (v) | (vi) | (i) | (ii) | (iii) | (iv) |
| 2005 | (i) | (ii) | (iii) | (iv) | (v) | (vi) | (viii) | (ix) | (vii) | (x) |
Heritage in Galicia
A network of four Christian pilgrimage routes in northern Spain, the site is an extension of the Route of Santiago de Compostela, a serial site inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1993. The extension represents a network of almost 1,500 km: coastal, interior of the Basque Country–La Rioja, Liébana and primitive routes. It includes a built heritage of historical importance created to meet the needs of pilgrims, including cathedrals, churches, hospitals, hostels and even bridges. The extension encompasses some of the earliest pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela, following the discovery in the 9thcentury of a tomb believed to be that of St. James the Greater.
This route includes the following buildings as heritage:
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- Cathedral of Mondoñedo
- Roman City Wall of Lugo (it is itself a World Herigate)
- Way of Interior
- Monastery of Sobrado dos Monxes
Other details:
Location: N43 20 6 W6 24 53
Date of Inscription: 1993
Extension: 2015
Criteria: (ii)(iv)(vi)
Buffer zone: 16,285.7156 ha
Ref: 669bis
The walls of Lugo were built in the later part of the 3rd century to defend the Roman town of Lucus. The entire circuit survives intact and is the finest example of late Roman fortifications in western Europe.
Other details:
N43 0 39.996 W7 33 11.988
Date of Inscription: 2000
Criteria:(iv)
Property : 1.68 ha
Buffer zone: 59.88 ha
Ref: 987
This famous pilgrimage site in north-west Spain became a symbol in the Spanish Christians’ struggle against Islam. Destroyed by the Muslims at the end of the 10th century, it was completely rebuilt in the following century. With its Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque buildings, the Old Town of Santiago is one of the world’s most beautiful urban areas. The oldest monuments are grouped around the tomb of St James and the cathedral, which contains the remarkable Pórtico de la Gloria (Pórtico da Gloria).
Other details:
Location: N42 52 50.736 W8 32 40.848
Date of Inscription: 1985
Criteria: (i)(ii)(vi)
Property : 107.59 ha
Buffer zone: 216.88 ha
Ref: 347
The Tower of Hercules has served as a lighthouse and landmark at the entrance of A Coruña harbour in north-western Spain since the late 1st century A.D. when the Romans built the Farum Brigantium. The Tower, built on a 57 metre high rock, rises a further 55 metres, of which 34 metres correspond to the Roman masonry and 21 meters to the restoration directed by architect Eustaquio Giannini in the 18th century, who augmented the Roman core with two octagonal forms. Immediately adjacent to the base of the Tower, is a small rectangular Roman building. The site also features a sculpture park, the Monte dos Bicos rock carvings from the Iron Age and a Muslim cemetery. The Roman foundations of the building were revealed in excavations conducted in the 1990s. Many legends from the Middle Ages to the 19th century surround the Tower of Hercules, which is unique as it is the only lighthouse of Greco-Roman antiquity to have retained a measure of structural integrity and functional continuity.
Other details:
Location N43 23 9 W8 24 23
Date of Inscription: 2009
Criteria: (iii)
Property : 233 ha
Buffer zone: 1,936 ha
Ref: 1312
References
https://whc.unesco.org/en/criteria/
Santiago de Compostela (Old Town): https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/347
Routes of Santiago de Compostela: Camino Francés and Routes of Northern Spain: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/669
Roman Walls of Lugo: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/987
Tower of Hercules:https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1312
More information:
