National Monuments
Although there are numerous monuments from various ages some of them have a special value due to their historical, architectural, artistic and cultural importance. These monuments are classified and protected by the Instituto de Gestão do Património Arquitectónico e Arqueológico (IGESPAR) (Institute for the Management of Architectural and Archaeological Heritage), which classifies national treasures in terms of several general criteria: historic and cultural, aesthetic and social, technical and scientific, but also includes issues of integrity, authenticity and exemplary importance.
Owing to its relative value and importance, the cultural property may be listed as or national, public or municipal interest. In addition, these definitions are also defined in terms of being monuments, groups of buildings or sites, based on existing international conventions. IGESPAR regularly proposes the listing of new assets based on its mission to safeguard national heritage. As time goes by, a wide variety of new buildings and groups of structures of varying typologies have been added to the national register of monuments, such modernist architecture, vernacular landscapes, archaeological sites, monastic buildings/structures, historical gardens, and more recently human-built business and industrial establishments.
The listing process follows a strict procedure defined by Decree-Law no. 309/2009 (23 October 2009), which entered into force in January 2010.
IGESPAR also monitors and participates in the UNESCO registry of World Heritage Sites as a member state: there are 13 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in territory of Portugal. Similarly, eleven assets in the UNESCO world heritage list of 878 sites were former Portuguese possessions at one time, spread across three continents (Africa, America and Asia) associated with period of Portuguese Discoveries.
Read more about this topic: National Monuments Of Portugal
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