The experts who guide the City Council are committed to requesting recognition for a cultural route of historic cities with a commercial and military port
The idea of obtaining world recognition for the cultural heritage of Cartagena is taking shape: it will aspire to obtain a UNESCO declaration based on the exceptional universal value of a cultural itinerary of Mediterranean cities that emerged in ancient times thanks to commercial and military navigation. And he won’t do it alone. It will form a transnational candidacy with the Lebanese city of Tire and the Tunisian site of Carthage, with which it shares not only Punic-Phoenician origin; also many common historical, commercial, naval and military features. There is a possibility that Malta will join soon.
The approach was defined in an information session held yesterday at the Roman Theater with the intervention of Jordi Tresserras, president in Spain of the International Council of Monuments and Sites, also known as Icomos. It is an international civil association with headquarters in Paris and linked to the UN through UNESCO. The expert explained to a series of representatives of institutions and groups linked to heritage and culture the technical criteria to achieve recognition and the steps to take.
Tresserras admitted that a transnational candidacy shortens time. In five years the goal can be met. The deadlines would be extended to fifteen if Cartagena attends alone, since the Ministry of Culture has proposals ahead of other Spanish cities that demand global recognition for their heritage. Lebanon will lead the candidacy, although much of the work will be coordinated from Cartagena by the president of the Ars Civilis Foundation, the retired professor of Art History at the University of Murcia, former regional councilor and former MEP Cristina Gutiérrez-Cortines.
The candidacy will include aspects of intangible heritage that are common to the three historic sites, such as their port, commercial, military and industrial nature. In material goods, the field is also vast: from the archaeological remains to the most modern maritime constructions with historical and cultural interest, such as the lighthouses and all the defensive military fortifications. They will also include traditional fishing gear, such as the almadraba, and the entire salting industry inherited from classical civilizations.
The Cartagena candidacy will constitute a management unit with the participation of administrations, organizations and associations involved in the project to shape the file. Tresserras warned that it is a “complex job, but it is not complicated. In four or five years we could achieve it.
“We don’t want to sell smoke”
Gutiérrez-Cortines said that the challenge now is to make it easier for people from Cartagena to contribute ideas that can strengthen the candidacy and that they also know the work criteria. “We don’t want to sell smoke. Society is very accustomed to things that later fall by the wayside », warned her, who in her advisory stage promoted the recovery of the Roman Theater and the creation of the Polytechnic University.
The mayor, Noelia Arroyo, said she was sure of the success of the candidacy, “although it will not be easy or fast.” In addition, she promised to provide a municipal headquarters and staff if required by the management group. The meeting was attended by the General Director of Heritage, Pablo Braquehais, the General Director of the Port, Fermín Rol, as well as representatives of the Navy.
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