World Heritage in Portugal

Lisbon Batalha Monastery Christ Convent Évora Alcobaça Monastery Sintra postage Parque Arqueológico do Vale do Côa Guimarães Elvas Coimbra University Alto Douro Palácio Nacional de Mafra Bom Jesus do Monte World Heritage Sites in Portugal (mainland Portugal only)

Angra do Heroísmo Viticulture culture of the island of Pico World Heritage Sites in Portugal (Azores only) Laurel forest in Madeira World Heritage Sites in Portugal (Madeira only)

The world heritage in Portugal (as of 2019) includes 17 UNESCO world heritage sites , of which 16 are cultural heritage sites and one is a natural site. Portugal ratified the World Heritage Convention in 1980 and the first World Heritage sites were registered in 1983. The last World Heritage site in Portugal to date was added to the World Heritage List in 2019.

World heritage sites

This table lists the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Portugal in chronological order according to the year of their inclusion on the World Heritage List (K - cultural heritage, N - natural heritage, K / N - mixed, (R) - on the Red List of World Heritage in Danger ). Twelve sites are on mainland Portugal, two sites in the Azores and one site in Madeira .

 Map with all coordinates of World Heritage Sites: OSM

image	designation	year	Type	Ref.	description
	Central zone of the city of Angra do Heroísmo in the Azores ( location )	1983	K	206	Angra do Heroísmo is the oldest city in the Azores and received its town charter through a Carta Régia in 1534. Angra was an important stopover for the transatlantic and East Asian trade.
	Jeronimos Monastery and Belém Tower in Lisbon	1983	K	263	The Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (German also Hieronymus Monastery ) ( location ). is a building in the Belém district . The Torre de Belém (German Tower of Belém ) ( location ) is one of the most famous landmarks of Lisbon . Both buildings are considered to be important examples of Manueline art .
	Batalha Monastery	1983	K	264	The Mosteiro da Batalha , including Batalha Monastery is a Dominican - monastery in the town of Batalha and dates from the 14th to 16th centuries. It was erected in thanks for Portugal's victory over the Kingdom of Castile in the Battle of Aljubarrota over the course of 150 years.
	Christ Monastery in Tomar	1983	K	265	The Convento de Cristo (German Christ Monastery ) in Tomar is a former fortified monastery complex founded by Knights Templar in 1162 . Its centerpiece is still the old round church , which houses another octagonal building inside. The Tomar Castle is also part of the world heritage.
	Historic center of Évora ( location )	1986	K	361	The founding of the city goes back to the time of the Roman occupation, the well-preserved Temple of Diana with its monumental columns still bears witness to the Roman heritage today. In 715, Évora was conquered by the Moors and expanded with a castle and mosque. After the reconquest in the Reconquista in 1165 , the cathedral of Évora was built until 1204, and the city ​​wall, which is still preserved today, was built with the support of the order of knights. In the 15th century, the residence of the kings created important monasteries, and in the 16th century a Jesuit university.
	Alcobaça Monastery	1989	K	505	The former Cistercian monastery of St. Mary of Alcobaça is one of the largest monastery complexes in Portugal and still has the largest church in the country
	Sintra cultural landscape	1995	K	723	Sintra is a small town in Portugal, about 25 km west of Lisbon . The place is best known for its palaces, some of which are centuries old, which attract tourists from all over the world.
	Historic center of Porto	1996	K	755	Porto is also known as the “baroque city” because of the numerous baroque churches . Niccolò Nasoni , architect of Italian origin, owes all of the city's important baroque buildings. The image of the historic old town is shaped less by special individual buildings than by the overall structure of a preserved inner city. The numerous granite buildings are characteristic.
	Prehistoric rock carvings in the Vale do Côa	1998	K	866	At the end of the 1980s, several thousand petroglyphs were discovered on the banks of the River Côa , some of which are estimated to be over 25,000 years old. The pictorial and graphic representations carved into the slate show aurochs, horses, deer, ibex, but also goats and fish, over a length of over 17 kilometers. It is an open-air gallery with representations from the Paleolithic , such as had previously only been found in protected grottos and caves. ( Extended to include Siega Verde in Spain in 2010 )
	Laurisilva from Madeira	1999	N	934	The laurel forest on Madeira has subtropical plant species that were native to Europe and the Mediterranean region ( Southern Europe , North Africa and Southwest Asia ) in the climatically warmer Tertiary . While these plants disappeared in Europe during the Ice Ages and in the Mediterranean area during the last Ice Age, this plant community was able to survive partially on the Canary Islands as well as on Madeira and the Azores ( Macaronesian Islands ).
	Historic center of Guimarães	2001	K	1031	Guimarães City with around 52,000 inhabitants in the north of Portugal in the Braga district . Here to Alfonso I (Afonso Henriques) , the first king of Portugal, being born, it is why the first capital of the country was and is considered the "cradle of the nation." In 1994 only the castle was nominated.
	Alto Douro wine region	2001	K	1046	People have settled here since the Paleolithic . Drinks were made from grapes here as early as the Bronze Age , but it was not until the Romans that actual viticulture was introduced, which was continued and further developed by the Suebi and Moors who followed . Thus, wine has been grown on the Douro for over 2000 years.
	Viticultural landscape of the island of Pico	2004	K	1117	The vineyard is divided into parcels protected by walls. The walls are built from basalt blocks without mortar. Viticulture began in the 15th century.
	Border and garrison town of Elvas with its fortifications	2012	K	1367	Fought over through the centuries and steadily fortified, Elvas is home to the largest preserved bulwark fortifications in the world.
	University of Coimbra - Alta and Sofia	2013	K	1387	The University of Coimbra is a research university in the city of Coimbra . It is the oldest university in the country and one of the oldest in Europe .
	Mafra Royal Building Complex ( location )	2019	K	1573	Palace, basilica, convent, Cerco garden and tapada hunting ground in Mafra
	Pilgrimage church Bom Jesus do Monte ( location )	2019	K	1590	Pilgrimage church on a mountain near Braga

Tentative list

The sites that are intended for nomination for inclusion in the World Heritage List are entered in the tentative list .

Current World Heritage candidates

Currently (2019) 19 sites are registered in Portugal's tentative list. Portugal completely re-submitted its tentative list in 2017 and deleted all old entries. Some of the old suggestions are also on the new list.

 Map with all coordinates of current World Heritage candidates: OSM

image	designation	year	Type	Ref.	description
	Historic center of Guimarães and the Couros zone	2017	K	6207	An expansion of the existing World Heritage Site Historical Center of Guimarães (Ref. 1031 ) is planned to include the Couros zone, in which leather tannery was operated for centuries.
	Historic Lisbon, a cosmopolitan city	2017	K	6208
	Mertola	2017	K	6209
	Montado, a cultural landscape	2017	K	6210
	Route of Magellan. First around the world	2017	K	6212	Sites on the route of Ferdinand Magellan's first circumnavigation Planned transnational proposal with sites in Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Cape Verde, Chile, Indonesia, Philippines, Portugal, and Spain.
	Vila Viçosa, ducal Renaissance city ( location )	2017	KN	6214	Includes proposal from 1982. Old town and Tapada Real
	Ilhas Selvagens	2017	N	6217	small uninhabited archipelago west of the North African Atlantic coast
	Stronghold fortresses of the "Raia" (border)	2017	K	6218	Planned expansion of the World Heritage border and garrison town of Elvas with its fortifications (Ref. 1367 ) to include the fortresses of Marvão , Valença and Almeida
	Aqueduto das Águas Livres ( location )	2017	K	6221
	Pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela: routes in Portugal	2017	K	6222	The Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela located in Portugal includes the Eastern Silver Route, the Portuguese Central Route, the Portuguese Coastal Route, the Portuguese East Route, the Portuguese Inner Route and the Torres Route
	Roman salt fish production and conservation center in Tróia	2017	K	6223
	Ensemble of Alvaro Siza's architectural works in Portugal	2017	K	6224	Works by the architect Álvaro Siza Vieira in the following cities: Porto, Lisboa, Évora, Aveiro, Oliveira de Azeméis, Marco de Canavezes, Campo Maior, Leça da Palmeira, Matosinhos, Póvoa de Varzim, Vila do Conde, Ovar and Setúbal.
	Southwest coast	2017	N	6225	The coast stretches between Burgau in the municipality of Budens and Sao Torpes . Sagres is also part of the proposal. z. B. Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina and the former proposal Parque Natural da Ria Formosa
	Pombalina in Lisbon	2017	K	6226	Baixa Pombalina is the lower town and historical center of Lisbon
	Desert of the Discalced Carmelites and the building complex of the Palace Hotel in Buçaco ( location )	2017	K / N	6227	The barefoot Carmelites referred to their monasteries as "desert" . In 1628 the Convento de Santa Cruz do Buçaco was founded in the Serra do Buçaco . After the dissolution of the order in Portugal in 1834, the monks had to leave the monastery. King Karl I built a summer palace on the site in 1887, for which part of the convent building was demolished. In 1909 the palace was converted into the luxury hotel Palácio Hotel do Buçaco .
	Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian headquarters and gardens	2017	K	6228	Seat of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation , designed by the landscape architect Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles
	Levadas on Madeira Island	2017	K	6230	Levadas are artificial watercourses on the island of Madeira , which serve to supply water to agricultural areas.
	Mid-Atlantic Ridge	2017	N	6231
	Places of globalization	2017	K	6256	A transnational application is planned. The Portuguese proposals include the cities: Angra do Heroísmo , Funchal (Madeira Archipelago), Lagos , Sagres and the “Land of the Prince”, Silves and Vila do Porto

Former World Heritage candidates

These sites were previously on the tentative list, but were withdrawn or rejected by UNESCO. Sites that are included in other entries on the tentative list or that are part of world heritage sites are not taken into account here.

 Map with all coordinates of former World Heritage candidates: OSM

image	designation	year	Type	Ref.	description
	Peneda-Gerês National Park	1982-1996	K / N		the only national park in Portugal, founded in 1971, a UNESCO biosphere reserve since 2009
	Serra da Estrela Natural Park	1982-1996	N		Natural park in the Serra da Estrela
	Montesinho Natural Park	1982-1996	N
	Domus Municipalis in Bragança ( location )	1982-1996	K		former town hall in Bragança
	Castelo de Tomar	1982-1996	K		Castle of the Knights Templar built around 1160, registered as part of the Convento de Cristo
	Historic center of Santarém	1996-2017	K	562	Historic center of the city of Santarém
	The city of Marvão and the rugged mountain on which it stands	2000-2017	K	1428
	Arrábida	2004-2017	N	1985
	ICNITOS de Dinossáurios	2008-2017	N	5255	with the dinosaur sites Serra de Aire and Vale de Meios in the Parque Natural das Serras de Aire e Candeeiros and Pedra da Mua in the Arrábida Natural Park

Web links

Commons : World Heritage Sites in Portugal  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Portugal on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Portugal. In: whc.unesco.org. UNESCO World Heritage Center, accessed June 17, 2017 . 
2. ^ Tentative list of Portugal. In: whc.unesco.org. UNESCO World Heritage Center, accessed June 17, 2017 . 
3. ^ Former Tentative Sites of Portugal. In: World Heritage Site. Accessed June 17, 2017 . 

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap