Old City of Salamanca

a) Urban development pressure;

b) Lack of comprehensive management plan.

In accordance with the World Heritage Committee’s requests (30 COM 7B.92; 31 COM 7B.119), the State Party organized a training and information seminar on management of Spanish World Heritage cities, which took place from 27-28 September 2007 in Aranjuez, Spain. The results of the seminar can be found at: http://www.aranjuezcultural.es/actividades/. Given that the seminar did not take place in Salamanca, it did not allow the expert group to focus on the urban interventions in the property. The case of Salamanca was however presented and discussed at the seminar.

Following these discussions, the World Heritage Centre received on 24 October 2007 the documentation on the revised project of the Huerto de las Adoratrices. In agreement with the developer Caja de Duero the project was redesigned by a new architects team of Alvaro Siza Vieira (Portugal) and Juan-Miguel Hernandez Leon (Spain), and the surface use, height as well as building volumes were reduced. The authorities further informed that permission for construction is pending and should be given as soon as possible.

ICOMOS noted that the design was not fully described or worked out in the documents so that it is not possible to understand if some of the earlier and current ICOMOS recommendations have been addressed. It further noted that, while the revised project is an improvement in terms of visual impacts on its historic surroundings, there continue to be contradictions and ambiguity in the design proposals made when comparing it to the recommendations of the 2002 mission. Compared to the first project reviewed by the mission in 2002, the new project foresees a reduction of the building height to allow for visual prominence of the surrounding historical buildings. The proposed building takes up the traditional patio structure encircling the building plot and leaving open garden space. The auditorium building itself will be located within a part of the patio space. The roof levels shall be set back from the street, and the material chosen is traditional Salamanca sandstone. The project team ensured that the ground water level would not be negatively impacted by the proposed building structure.

Despite the recommendations of the 2002 mission, the existing walls of the ‘Huerto’ are still planned to be integrated into the street façade of the building. Like in the first project, a significant number of existing buildings – namely the current building of the Adoratrices and the connecting buildings to neighbouring plots – are planned to be taken down to make room for (1) the new main building, and (2) for the refurbishment of an adjacent pedestrian street that shall allow accessibility to all sides of the future auditorium building and to the apsidal of the church Santa Maria de los Caballeros.

The World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS consider that more attention should be paid to ensure that necessary changes respect the adequate functional and aesthetic perspectives and contribute to define the identity and unity of the area, given that the area adjacent to the Adoratrices project shows a very indented hence fragile boundary. It further needs to be underlined that the recommendations of the 2002 mission report and the decisions of the World Heritage Committee at its 30th (Vilnius, 2006) and 31st (Christchurch, 2007) sessions have not been fully met.

It is therefore recommended that the Adoratrices project be suspended to allow for a World Heritage Centre / ICOMOS mission to evaluate the state of conservation of the property. The objective of the mission should be to work out jointly with local authorities what kind of design changes and management planning changes would allow the State Party to meet the World Heritage Committee’s request and expectations.

Further to the project of the Huerto de las Adoratrices, several ongoing rehabilitation and construction projects in the core and buffer zones were brought to the World Heritage Centre’s attention by local NGOs as being problematic.

ICOMOS considers that the new Urban Law does not constitute the kind of integrated management plan involving all stakeholders and focusing on preservation of outstanding universal value that has been requested by the World Heritage Committee at its 30th and 31st sessions.

Such a management plan would ensure that those projects and amendments to the approved urban development plan (PGOU) are in line with the long-term conservation objectives agreed in the “Convenio” between the Regional Government of Castilla y Leon and the City of Salamanca signed in 2007.

The State Party further transmitted a map of the city of Salamanca intended to clarify the boundaries of the core and the buffer zones. However, this document was returned to the State Party for further clarification.