Dr. Ignacio BuquerasPatrimonio cultural e inmaterial de EspañaIgnacio Buqueras, full academician of the Humanities Section 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 from the Royal European Academy of Doctors-Barcelona 1914 (RAED ), has delivered to the Library of the RAED of the book “El Patrimonio Mundial e Inmaterial de España” (The World and Intangible Heritage of Spain), promoted by the association that he presides. The work is the result of the intense dedication of this entity in just one year of work in its 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 of 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 publication of books and its projection, the organization of exhibitions, the realization of cultural trips and, above all, the creation of postgraduate courses that will be taught in prestigious Spanish universities. Alhambra de Granada patrimonio de EspañaIn addition, we will constitute, within the association, the Friends of World Heritage section and we will celebrate this year, for the first time, the World Heritage Day, on November 2, the 35th anniversary of the first declarations corresponding to Spain made by Unesco”, explained Buqueras during his speech at the event organized by RAED in Barcelona on March 18th with the same title as the book.

Since those first designations, Spain already has 47 declared assets World Heritage and is ranked as the third country with the largest number of declared assets 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 room 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.