The ‘Landscape of Light’ from Paseo del Prado and the Retirement it manages to be registered in 2021 as a World Heritage Site by Unesco.
The decision has been communicated in the 44th session of the Unesco World Heritage Committee from China and applauded from the Prado Museum, ‘headquarters of operations’ of the Spanish candidacy.
The ‘yes’ of the ‘Landscape of Light’ inscription as World Heritage by Unesco has gone ahead, despite the fact that the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) proposed that the candidacy be postponed, although indicating the potential it could have in the tree-lined avenue criterion.
???? URGENT
New inscription in the List of #World Heritage from @UNESCO: The Paseo del Prado and the Buen Retiro, landscape of arts and sciences (#Spain ????????).
???? Congratulations! ????
ℹ️ https://t.co/3TqjE260Ar #44WHC pic.twitter.com/ipdHLGbzZw
– UNESCO in Spanish ????️ #Education #Science #Culture (@UNESCO_es) July 25, 2021
The candidacy
Madrid has managed to pay off a historic debt because it was the only capital in Western Europe without any property registered as World Heritage. The ‘Landscape of Light’ joins the already declared assets located in the Community of Madrid: the Monastery of El Escorial, the historic center of Alcalá de Henares, the cultural landscape of Aranjuez, and the Hayedo de Montejo.
Seven years of work has the Madrid candidacy behind it, an idea that started in 2014 from the municipal government led by the former mayor Ana Botella. The dossier was finalized during the legislature chaired by Manuela Carmena. In October 2019, with José Luis Martínez-Almeida As mayor, the Unesco evaluator visited the candidacy on the spot.
At the beginning of June, the ICOMOS report was published, with notes on the Prado / Retiro complex. “We have a report that is not bad because it recognizes the exceptional universal value of Paseo del Prado but not jointly with the Retiro”, said the general director of Cultural Heritage of the City Council, Luis Lafuente.
The technical work carried out by the City of Madrid emphasizes that the Prado and the Retiro “have lived together for 400 years and that cannot be by chance.”
The Paseo del Prado first, in 1540, and the Retiro gardens shortly after, represents the introduction for the first time in European urbanism of nature in the city. It should be noted that the Paseo del Prado is the first tree-lined promenade, a mall, designed in a European capital.
This model serves as inspiration not only for the Alameda de Hércules in Seville but also moves to America, thus emerging the Alameda de México (late 16th century and the Paseo de los Descalzos de Lima (17th century).
It further implies that the Palace and Gardens of Buen Retiro they settle there because of the existence of the Paseo del Prado. “From the middle of the seventeenth century Paseo and Jardines will be inextricably linked, being the center of the Spanish Crown Court for more than 350 years,” they remarked from the candidacy.
The arrival of the Bourbons in the 18th century meant the expansion of enlightened ideas. With Carlos III this area of the city was transformed to turn it into an enlightened city. The gardens are opened to all citizens and in it an area dedicated to research, study and dissemination of knowledge is created for their enjoyment and instruction.
Already in the nineteenth century a part of the Gardens is urbanized and, attracted by nature, artistic collections and scientific centers, large political, economic and social institutions such as the Bank of Spain, the Congress of Deputies, the RAE, the Stock Exchange or the great museums settle in the area nationals. Also the great first station of the railroad is installed there, the one of the South, today Atocha.
It includes more than 21 assets of cultural interest and many of the funds and collections it contains are of universal dimension such as the Royal Academy, the works of Goya, Velázquez, Picasso, the collections of plates and archives of the Royal Botanical Garden or the Herschfeld telescope.
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
