Territorio Mudéjar and the Alliance of Cultural Landscapes and Related World Heritage Sites are holding their biannual assembly on 25 and 26 April in Calatayud, Tobed, Cervera de la Cañada and Zaragoza. The meeting, entitled “Cultural Landscape and Management Plans for UNESCO World Heritage Sites ” will be attended by speakers from Spain and Italy.
The Alliance, which brings together World Heritage properties in the categories of landscapes and sites or monuments, aims to serve as a link between landscapes and sites to share experiences, seek solutions to various common problems, train their technicians in specific areas and obtain resources to develop joint activities. Specifically, the following are part of the Alliance: the Cultural Landscape of Aranjuez, Ibiza-Biodiversity and Culture, the Cultural Landscape of the Sierra de la Tramuntana, the city of Sintra, the Palm Grove of Elche, the Alhambra and the Generalife, the Cultural Landscape of Las Médulas and the Hercules Lighthouse in A Coruña.
The meeting will begin on Thursday 25th with a study visit to Calatayud, the church of Santa Tecla in Cervera de la Cañada and the church of the Virgin of Tobed, monuments declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
In the afternoon, the technical sessions will begin at the Mudéjar Museum of Tobed, with the participation of experts from Icomos Spain, Complutense University of Madrid, Andalusian Heritage Institute, Landscape Observatory of Catalonia, University of Zaragoza, and Territorio Mudéjar (both from the direction and with the experiences of the artistic residencies).
On Friday, the talks will continue with specialists from the IPH-Heritage and Humanities Institute, the University of Granada, the Politecnico di Torino and the Landscape Alliance.
Victoria Trasobares, director of Territorio Mudéjar, highlighted the essential work to reconnect the monument with its context, especially that of the inhabitants of the villages. And she recalled that the priority objective is to ensure not only the conservation of the identity and uniqueness of the territories, but also to address the immediate future, in the medium term, the innovative and sustainable management of the villages.
It should be remembered that the General Assembly of the Alliance of Cultural Landscapes and Related World Heritage Sites approved in November in A Coruña the inclusion of Territorio Mudéjar as a new member.
Inclusion in the Alliance allows Territorio Mudéjar to participate jointly in national and international fairs, to seek funding for joint projects, to disseminate its activities among the other partners and to hold technical conferences to address challenges, opportunities and analysis of common problems.
The last technical conferences of the Landscape Alliance were held in November under the title ‘Landscapes and Sites. Participate to coexist’ and were organised by the Tower of Hercules and the Alliance of Landscapes and Related World Heritage Sites, with the support of the City Council of A Coruña and the Tourism and Congress Consortium. The Ministry of Culture and Sport and the Provincial Council of A Coruña also collaborated. The event addressed the role of society in the conservation of World Heritage landscapes and sites, inviting reflection on the participation of institutions, communities and associations to protect and enhance these places.
This assembly includes a technical conference for partners organised around the theme “Cultural landscape and management plans for UNESCO World Heritage Sites”, which will be attended by speakers and partners from Spain, Andorra, Portugal and Italy. On this occasion, Territorio Mudéjar organised a European visit-meeting in Calatayud, Tobed and Cervera de la Cañada with a team from the University of Zaragoza, the Politecnico di Torino and the Politecnico di Milano. This meeting served to present and reflect on the preliminary study for the elaboration of the management plan for Mudejar Architecture in Aragon.
* This project of Territorio Mudéjar has been selected in the 2023 call for grants for projects for the conservation and dissemination of World Heritage properties of the Ministry of Culture and Sport. Territorio Mudéjar is thus part of a group of more than 20 Spanish organisations working to promote and improve the application of the World Heritage Convention and its guidelines. These grants are financed by the Ministry of Culture and aim to promote the development of projects for the management, protection and conservation of these assets, as well as to promote their accessibility, visibility and dissemination at national and international level.
