Ignacio Buqueras, full academician of the Royal Academy of Doctors of Spain, president of the Association for the Dissemination and Promotion of the World Heritage of Spain and full academician elected of the Royal European Academy of Doctors-Barcelona 1914 (RAED ), has published in the latest issue of the Spanish magazine “Diplomacy”, corresponding to this month of June, the article “El Patrimonio Mundial de España” (The World Heritage of Spain), which reviews the last acts that the presiding entity has held together with the two Royal Academies in Madrid and Barcelona. The two meetings werw attended by the full academician and president of the RAED Alfredo Rocafort and the full academician, member of the Board of Government of the RAED and general secretary of its Foundation Santiago Castellà.
Buqueras affects the work of the Association, culminating with the publication of the book “El Patrimonio Mundial e Inmaterial de España” (The World and Intangible Heritage of Spain). The work is the result of the intense dedication of its members in just one year of work in their defense and dissemination of the Spanish heritage recognized by Unesco. Its presentation took place on January 29 in Granada, coinciding with the 35th anniversary of the international protection of the first five assets of Spain: the historic center of Cordoba, the Alhambra and the Generalife in Granada, the cathedral of Burgos, the monastery of El Escorial and the works of Antoni Gaudí in Barcelona.
“One of the fundamental aspects of our association is to publicize, disseminate and protect declared assets, among which our objectives are to carry out an intense outreach campaign, through the publication of books and their projection, the organization of exhibitions, the realization of cultural trips and, above all, the creation of postgraduate courses that will be taught at prestigious Spanish universities. We will also be the Friends of World Heritage section, and we will celebrate the World Heritage Day for the first time this year, next November 2, 35th anniversary of the first declarations corresponding to Spain”, said Buqueras during his speech at the event organized by RAED in Barcelona on March 18 with the same title of the book.
From these first designations, Spain already has 47 properties declared World Heritage and is the third country with the largest number of declared goods in the world, behind Italy and China. Of these, 41 are cultural goods, four are natural goods, two are mixed goods and four are shared goods with other countries: one with France, another with Portugal, a third with Slovenia and a fourth shared with eleven other European countries. On the other hand, Spain has 18 intangible assets, which makes it the country in Europe with the largest number of goods declared intangible cultural heritage, followed by Croatia with 17 items. In addition, Spain also has 11 documents distinguished as Memory of the World by Unesco.
