Since 10 September and until Monday the 25th, the Unesco Committee has been examining the 50 nominations of properties put forward this year for addition to the World Heritage List during the 45th annual convention, held in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). Specifically, the nominations under debate cover 34 cultural sites, nine natural sites, two mixed sites and five significant boundary modifications, with the focus on the African continent, a region that Unesco considers "underrepresented" on the list.
Alongside Italy, China, Germany and France, Spain is one of the handful of countries to have reached fifty cultural, natural or mixed sites declared World Heritage. Menorca joined Unesco's World Heritage List yesterday with the project 'Talayotic Menorca. A cyclopean island odyssey', bringing Spain to its 50th inscription on the list.
World Heritage status is a distinction granted by Unesco to properties with characteristics of exceptional value that make them unique in the world. The list currently contains close to 1,200 sites spread across 166 countries. However, as Unesco itself acknowledges, "the World Heritage List today shows strong geographical disparities. While some countries have more than 50 sites inscribed, others have none".
This is the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Spain
Alhambra, Generalife and Albaicín, Granada (1984, 1994)
Works of Antoni Gaudí (1984, 2005)
Monastery and Site of El Escorial, Madrid (1984)
Burgos Cathedral (1984)
Historic Centre of Córdoba (1984, 1994)
Old Town of Ávila with its Extra-Muros Churches (1985)
Monuments of Oviedo and the Kingdom of the Asturias (1985, 1998)
Cave of Altamira and Palaeolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain (1985, 2008)
Old Town of Santiago de Compostela (1985)
Old Town of Segovia and its Aqueduct (1985)
Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon (1986, 2001)
Old Town of Cáceres (1986)
Historic City of Toledo (1986)
Garajonay National Park (1986)
Cathedral, Alcázar and Archivo de Indias in Seville (1987)
Old City of Salamanca (1988)
Poblet Monastery (1991)
Routes of Santiago de Compostela: Camino Francés and Routes of Northern Spain (1993, 2015)
Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida (1993)
Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe (1993)
Doñana National Park (1994, 2005)
Historic Walled Town of Cuenca (1996)
La Lonja de la Seda de Valencia (1996)
Las Médulas (1997)
San Millán Yuso and Suso Monasteries (1997)
Palau de la Música Catalana and Hospital de Sant Pau, Barcelona (1997)
Pyrénées – Mont Perdu (1997, 1999)
Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula (1998)
University and Historic Precinct of Alcalá de Henares (1998)
Prehistoric Rock Art Sites in the Côa Valley and Siega Verde (1998, 2010)
Ibiza, Biodiversity and Culture (1999)
San Cristóbal de La Laguna (1999)
Archaeological Ensemble of Tarraco (2000)
Roman Walls of Lugo (2000)
Palmeral of Elche (2000)
Catalan Romanesque Churches of the Vall de Boí (2000)
Archaeological Site of Atapuerca (2000)
Aranjuez Cultural Landscape (2001)
Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda and Baeza (2003)
Vizcaya Bridge (2006)
Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe (2007, 2011, 2017, 2021)
Teide National Park (2007)
Tower of Hercules (2009)
Cultural Landscape of the Serra de Tramuntana (2011)
Heritage of Mercury (Almadén and Idrija) (2012)
Antequera Dolmens Site (2016)
Caliphate City of Medina Azahara (2018)
Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria Cultural Landscape (2019)
Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro, a Landscape of Arts and Sciences (2021)
Prehistoric Sites of Talayotic Menorca (2023)