| Las Médulas is a Cultural Landscape,
the result of the Roman intervention in the territory over two
centuries and the changes experienced in this territory up to our time.
Its importance, however, goes beyond the monumental remains of Roman
gold mining, as it is the product of historical changes of all types
that this exploitation and domination implied.
The
inscription in December 1997 of Las Médulas in the List of World
Heritage Sites meant the international recognition of a Cultural
Landscape for the first time in Spain.
Today Las Médulas is a Bien de Interés Cultural (Cultural Interest Property) as an Archaeological Zone (1996) and, as a Natural Space, recently declared a Natural Monument (2002). But, above all, Las Médulas is aCultural Park,
a dynamic reality in which the fossilised remains are articulated
within a living landscape, that of our time, leading the visitor of
today’s territory to the ancient territory. |