Rethink Heritage

In Spain, national legislation established the framework for heritage through Law 16/1985, of 25 June, on Spanish Historic Heritage. This law regulates general aspects for the whole of the country. However, the transfer of competences to Autonomous Communities in 1985 led to the development of a regional legislation and the current situation in which each Autonomous Community has its own specific legislation to regulate the safeguarding of heritage. National legislation establishes three levels for the protection of heritage: property with historic heritage status; the General Inventory of Movable Assets; and the General Register of Assets of Cultural Interest (movable and immovable). At this scale, the 17 Autonomous Communities have established additional levels of protection in their own laws, such as introducing special categories in relation to intangible heritage.

Within the Directorate General of Cultural Heritage and Fine Arts of the Ministry of Culture and the corresponding Directorates General of Heritage of the Autonomous Communities several units have been created to manage actions needed to improve the applicable legislation. These are known as Secretariats General (SG) for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Heritage.

In addition, the Cultural Heritage Institute of Spain (IPCE) is a Subdirectorate General attached to the Directorate General of Cultural Heritage and Fine Arts of the Ministry of Culture and Sport, whose main task is the research, conservation and restoration of the assets which make up Cultural Heritage, as well as documentation, training and dissemination. This is a complex task which the IPCE is approaching from a multidisciplinary perspective (architects, archaeologists, art historians, ethnographers, restorers, physicists, geologists, chemists, biologists, documentary experts, IT specialists, librarians, archivists and conservation experts, among others).

Tasks relating to compliance with international agreements ratified by Spain are also centralized at state level. In order to meet commitments at national level, in the last ten years different committees and work groups have been set up throughout Spain to develop the plans of action necessary to comply with the agreements or other commitments or agreements at international level. A Strategic Plan for Culture was developed by the State Secretariat for Culture (SSC), in charge of drawing up the plans for work in all the fields mentioned previously.

In order to coordinate the different heritage activities carried out in Spain a collegiate body, the Historical Heritage Council, was set up, with meetings for the national and autonomous governments held several times a year.

 LEGAL FRAMEWORK

• Law 16/1985 on the Spanish Historical Heritage and;
• RD 111/1986 on development of Law 16/1985

 RATIFIED INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS

• Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, The Hague, 14 May 1954 (UNESCO). Ratified by Spain on 14 May 1954 (Official State Gazette (BOE), 24 November 1960).
• First Protocol for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (UNESCO). Accession of Spain on 1 June 1992 (25 July 1992).
• Second Protocol to The Hague Convention of 1954 for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, The Hague, 26 March 1999 (UNESCO). Signed by Spain on 17 May 1999 and ratified by Spain on 21 June 2001 (BOE, 30 March 2004).
• European Cultural Convention (No. 18, Council of Europe, 19 December 1954). Accession of Spain, 4 July 1957 (BOE, 10 August 1957).
• European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage (No. 66, Council of Europe), London, 6 May 1969. Accession of Spain, 18 February 1975 (BOE, 5 July 1975).
• European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage (revised), Valletta (Malta), 16 January 1992 (Council of Europe). Ratified by Spain, 31 March 2011 (BOE, 20 July 2011).
• Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, Paris, 17 November 1970 (UNESCO). Ratified by Spain on 13 December 1985 (BOE, 5 February 1986).
• Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage (UNESCO), Paris, 23 November 1972. Ratified by Spain on 23 January 1984, in Yemen (BOE, 19 May 1984).
• Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage of Europe (No. 121, Council of Europe), Granada, 3 October 1985. Ratified by Spain on 11 April 1989 (BOE, 30 June 1989).
• UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects, Rome, 24 June 1995. Accession of Spain on 9 May 2002 (BOE, 16 October 2002).
• European Landscape Convention, Florence, 20 October 2000 (Council of Europe). Ratified by Spain on 26 November 2007 (BOE, 5 February 2008).
• Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage (UNESCO), Paris, 2 November 2001. Ratified by Spain on 25 May 2005 (BOE, 5 March 2009).
• Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (UNESCO), Paris, 17 October 2003. Ratified by Spain on 6 October 2006 (BOE, 5 February 2007).

Information regarding legislation is based on Council of Europe's data: https://www.coe.int/en/web/herein-system/spain