Wal led C i t i es & O pen Soc ie t i es : Manag ing H i s to r i c Wa l l s i n U rban Wor l d
He r i t age P rope r t i es
Siena, I ta ly. 26-27 January 2017
Lugo (Spain)i
Info sheet
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1 . C i t y B a c k g r o u n d I n f o r m a t i o n
In the north-western tip of the Iberian Peninsula, in the Finisterrae of Europe, in the heart of
autonomous community of Galicia, lies Lugo. It is the capital of the province of Lugo. The municipality
had a population near of 100.000, which makes it the fourth most populous city in Galicia.
Located on a hill on the banks of the rivers mainly Miño, and Rato y Fervedoira, the city of Lugo
preserves major remains of its Roman past, among them its ancient wall, declared a World Heritage
Site by UNESCO. The bridge over the Miño is essentially of Roman date, though many repairs over the
centuries have effaced its Roman character.
The difference in altitude between downtown and the river banks is considerable, while in the center of
the city's altitude of 465 meters above sea level, at the height of the Miño River Walk is the altitude of
only 364 metres (1,194 feet). The municipality of Lugo is the second largest in Galicia, with 329.78
square kilometres (127.33 sq mi) and 59 parishes. It should be emphasized that the outline of the city
was declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO on 7 November 2002, this being the most important
recognition at international level regarding the conservation of landscapes and habitats of this Atlantic
European region.
History
Founded in 15-13 BCE following the pacification of this region by order of the Emperor Augustus, after
the Cantabrian Wars, Lucus Augusti was one of the three great Roman cities of Gallaecia, capital of a
juridical convent and a fundamental piece of the romanization of a territory that encompasses More
than half of Galicia today.
During the Middle Ages Lugo, like Santiago de Compostela, was a center of pilgrimage, because the
cathedral had the special privilege, it still retains today, of exposing to the public the consecrated host
twenty-four hours a day. In the 18th century Lugo was granted the privilege of organizing the fairs of St.
Froilán. During the Modern Age, Lugo had a certain supremacy, although other nearby towns such as
Mondoñedo or Ribadeo disputed it. It was not until the division of the state into provinces in 1833 and
the creation of provincial governments that Lugo has become the most important town from the
province of Lugo, because of its capital status. This rise has been bolstered by the arrival of the first
railroad to the city in 1875.
During the 20th century the city continued to grow as the administration and services center of the
province. In 1936, when the Civil War broke out, the city became quickly under the Nationalists control.
In the 1970s the city met important reforms, like the development of the Ceao Industrial Area (1979)
and the complete restoration of the Roman walls.
Infanta Elena, the elder daughter of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain and fourth in the line
of succession to the Spanish throne, has been duchess of Lugo since 1995.
In 2000, the recognition of the Roman Walls on UNESCO's World Heritage Site was an important event
in the city.
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In recent years, the city council has opted for a sustainable urban development that has been
accompanied by different awards of the European Union with the granting of funding for a project within
the Life program: “Lugo+Biodinamico”, within the framework of adaptation to climate change Also
nationally awards with the concession of the financing of another large project "Muramiñae" (Wall-Miño)
to join the walled city with the river. And finally Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism has just been
awarded to the City Council the proposed “Smart City Lugo “, to become a smart and sustainable city
Climate
Lugo has a humid oceanic climate with drier summers, Cfsb in the Köppen climate classification. Due
to its remoteness from the Atlantic, its annual precipitation of 1,084 millimetres (42.7 in) can
beconsidered low compared with areas of the Rias Baixas and Santiago de Compostela. The highest
temperature recorded in history, 39.6 °C (103 °F), occurred in August 1961 and the lowest temperature
was −13.2 °C (8.2 °F) in February 1983. The city has an average of six days of snow per year, which is
a contrast to coastal cities of Galicia which have not received snow in modern times.
Economy
Lugo is a city of services. The main activities are commercial, the administration (offices of the
autonomous and central Governments) and educational and health services (the recently opened
Hospital Universitario Lucus Augusti is the largest in Galicia). The steady increase of population of the
city has coincided with the development of the major economic sectors of the municipality. Industry is
almost exclusively dedicated to the processing of agricultural products (dairy, meat, timber ...).
The University of Santiago de Compostela has several faculties at its Lugo Campus Terra, one of the
most important being the Faculty of Veterinary sciences, one of the leading in its field in Spain.
The daily newspaper El Progreso is published in the city. It's the most read newspaper in the province
of Lugo.
There is a private aerodrome in the nearby town of Rozas, owned by the Spanish Ministry of Defence
and administered by Real Aero Club de Lugo. In 2011, the Ministry of Defence transferred the
installations to INTA, Spain's space agency, in order to convert it into a center of aeronautical research
Main sights
Lugo is a small, monumental city, increasingly visited by people from all over the world who see in it a
fascinating compendium of more than two millennia of history, surrounded in part by a Roman Wall
complete as you can not see it anywhere else in the world.
Inside the Wall, the city conserves quiet pedestrian streets, wide squares and spacious gardens, where
buildings such as the Cathedral, the Archiepiscopal Palace, and the City Hall stand out. But the historic
quarter also houses some of the best restaurants in Galicia, where it is possible to sample the excellent
fresh meats and fish which have earned Lugo's gastronomy recognized acclaim.
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Other sources suggest that the name Lucus Augusti comes from the Latin word Lucus, which means
"sacred grove", or "sacred forest", as the city was founded on the place of a small grove.
Besides the walls, sights include:
The Cathedral,
Convent and church of St. Francisco
Museo Provincial
Church of St. Dominic
City Hall.
Palace of the arts
The Roman Bridge over river Miño.
The Roman Therms near the river Miño.
Rosalía de Castro`s Park, a 23 ha park
Interactive museum about the historyof the city (MIHL).
Two important festivals take place in Lugo:
Saint Froilan festivity, which lasts from 4–12 October, dedicated to the city's patron saint. It's a Fiesta of National Tourist Interest and it's very popular to eat polbo á feira (octopus boiled) in one of the many stands near Rosalía de Castro´s park.
Arde Lucus, festival celebrated in the last weeks of June which revives the Roman and Castro past of the city, and which emerged to commemorate the declaration of the city's Roman wall as a World Heritage Site in 2000. In its latest editions it has reached nearly half a million visitors. It has a recent intenational award “CGLU-Ciudad De Mexico-Cultura 21” of good practice 2016.
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2 . B a s i c d e s c r i p t i o n a n d b r i e f h i s t o r y o f t h e w a l l s
Brief history of the walls
The Roman town of Lucus Augusti was founded in 15-13 BCE following the pacification of this region
by Augustus.
The Celtic name Lug suggests that it may have been a sacred site of the Copori, but no evidence has
been forthcoming from excavations on this point. There was a Roman military camp here during the
campaign of Augustus, and it was here that the new town was laid out on a checkerboard plan
according to classical principles. The original plan did not require the town to be enclosed by a
defensive wall, because of the effectiveness of the Pax Romana (although the entire region continued
to have a military presence, dispersed in a number of small forts).
The town prospered in the succeeding centuries, not least because of the important mineral resources
of the region (gold), which were actively exploited. It was also the administrative centre of the
surrounding area (the Conventus Iuridicus Lucense), and an important nodal point in the network of
roads built by the Romans. The town acquired impressive public buildings and luxurious urban villas,
which spread over a wide area.
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High Empire
However, in the mid 2nd century Frankish and Alemannic invaders crossed the limes and ravaged
Gaul, penetrating into Hispania before being driven out. This resulted in the construction of massive
urban defences at all the towns of the western Roman provinces. Lucus received its walls between 263
and 276; it has been suggested, however, that these were built less against barbarian invaders from
across the Rhine frontier than against the local tribesmen, who had never fully accepted the Roman
occupation of their lands. As in most colonial towns, the area enclosed by the walls was 135 less than
that of the urban settlement: a considerable part of the town in the south-east remained outside.
Despite the strength of its fortifications, Lugo was unable to resist the Suevi when they swept into the
peninsula in the early 5th century and destroyed the town by fire. They were to be dislodged in their
turn by the Visigoths, who captured the town in 457 and settled it once again. The irresistible Moorish
invasion of Spain saw Lugo overwhelmed and sacked in 714, but it was recaptured for Christendom by
Alfonso I of Asturias in 755 and restored by Bishop Odarius.
Low Empire
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The town was to be ravaged once again in 968 by the Normans, on their way to the Mediterranean,
and it was not restored until the following century.
In 1970 is one of the most important stages in the history of the walled area or Lugo, since it coincides
with the so-called “Operation Clean Wall”, it consists of demolishing the attached constructions on the
external part of the Wall.
Basic description of the walls
The Roman walls of Lugo enclose an area of 34.4ha and their circumference is 2.117km. They are
generally 4.20m thick, although in places this has been increased to 7m; the height varies between 8m
and 12m. The structure consists of internal and external stone facings with a core filling of earth,
stones, and pieces of worked Roman stone from demolished buildings.
There are ten gates (five ancient and five recent); motor vehicles are allowed to use eight of them, the
other two being for pedestrian access alone. Five stairways and a ramp give access to the parapet
walk. A number of double staircases giving access from the parapet walk to the towers have been
found within the thickness of the walls, and it is assumed that each of the towers was provided with
similar stairways.
Of the original interval towers, 46 have survived intact, and there are a further 39 that are wholly or
partly dismantled.
They are spaced at irregular intervals round the walls, the intervening blocks varying from 8.80-9.80m
to 15.90- 16.40m. They were two-storeyed and most of them are roughly semi-circular in plan, the gap
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in the wall in which they were constructed varying in width from 5.35m to 12.80m. Several take the form
of slightly tapering truncated cones, and a few have rectangular plans. One of the towers, known as “La
Mosquera”, is surmounted by the remains of its superstructure containing two arched windows.
There is a variety of materials to be observed in their construction, and in that of the walls themselves.
The main stones used were dressed granite and, in particular, slate.
There is some variety in the forms of laying the stones and in their size. In some cases the slate walls
rise from foundation courses of granite; in other examples these basal courses are also in slate. Yet
another common wall make-up consists of the courses in the lower half or two-thirds being of dressed
granite with the remainder in slate, but with some granite blocks interspersed.
The parapet is crenellated in places, but this is certainly post- Roman work. Considerable
reconstruction work took place at what is now known as the Reducto de Santa Cristina in 1836-37, to
create a fort that accorded with the military architecture of the period.
The original gates have undergone a number of transformations since the 3rd century. The best
preserved are the Falsa Gate and the Miñá Gate, which still has its original vaulted arch set between
two towers, in characteristic Roman form; traces of the now disappeared guard chamber can be seen
on the interior wall (also visible at the San Pedro Gate).
3 . C u r r e n t f u n c t i o n s a n d m a n a g e m e n t / g o v e r n a n c e
f r a m e w o r k
Uses
Although originally the wall- logically and fundamentally- had a defensive military character, this
function was complemented by other different uses. Furthermore its uses have changed and
accumulated throughout history. At each stage of its history a wall is, as Le Goff (1991) points out, a
technical, military, economic, social, political, legal, symbolic, and ideological phenomenon. All this
functions and many more, like the purely urban one, are present in the Wall of Lugo, but in this case
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perhaps with greater intensity and variety, since it has always been closely linked to the daily life of the
city, born in wartime and, very particularly, in peacetime.
At present this social and environmental identification with Cultural Property like the Wall of Lugo is
complemented by other less important values. These, to a large extent, allow the Wall to be seen as
something of the people, useful and usable, with the advantages and positive features that this way of
looking at monumental collections and their parts brings. The Wall has been important and useful from
numerous viewpoints, among which the following can be cited:
Defensive, Political, Fiscal and police, Historic, Artistic, Religious, Lodgings, Public recreation,
Electrical services, Protection against the elements, Botanical, Urban, Tourist and Economic, as a
stage, as a living experience, Social value: Archaeological and Historical interest.
Management/governance framework
The legal framework that controls interventions carried out on the monument has its origins in the
Spanish Constitution, in the Statute of Autonomy of Galicia, Organic Law 1/1981 of 6 April, and in
Royal Decree 2434/1982 of 24 July on the transfer of functions and services from the State Authorities
to the Autonomous Region of Galicia in cultural matters. Roman Walls of Lugo is considered as an
Asset of Cultural Interest by the Royal Order of April 16, 1921, giving it the highest legal protection of
their cultural values.
Any intervention involving the Walls or their surrounding area must comply with the specific regulations
on the protection of cultural heritage at national level, as set out in Law 16/1985 on Spanish Historical
Heritage, and regional regulations set out in Law 5/2016 on the Cultural Heritage of Galicia.
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This regulatory framework involves the collaboration of three public authorities who are responsible for
protecting the monument: the central State Authorities, the Regional Authorities of the Xunta de
Galicia, and the Local Authorities of Lugo City Council. This collaboration between the different
authorities is the basis for the direct management of the monument, carried out by the Xunta de Galicia
as the owner and responsible authority for its care within the autonomous region, because, following a
survey of ownership carried out in the late 1960s, ownership of the totality of the walls was vested in
1973 in the Spanish State, through the Ministry of Education and Science, but It was transferred to the
Xunta de Galicia by Royal Decree in 1994.
All restoration and maintenance work on the Roman Walls is carried out in strict compliance with the
directives of the Advance Integral Plan for the Conservation and Restoration of the Walls of Lugo. The
Xunta operates through its General Directorate of Cultural Heritage, and The Master Plan for the
Conservation and Restoration of the Roman Walls of Lugo (1992).
Lugo City Council is responsible for managing actions carried out on the Walls in accordance with the
stipulations of the Special Plan for the Protection, Rehabilitation and Reformation of the Walled Area of
the City of Lugo and its Area of Influence (PEPRI). The municipality has begun a series of interventions
aimed at preserving the monument, which essentially consist of protecting it from traffic and pollution
by turning the road that runs around the walls into a pedestrian walkway, and by creating an interior
pedestrian walkway that relieves the adjacent structures with a series of green spaces along their
whole extent. All of these plans focus on a process of renovation, rehabilitation and enhancement of
Lugo’s cultural heritage, represented in a building that has been specially built for this purpose, the
Visitors’ Centre for the Walls. Furthermore, City Council created the Municipal Service of Archaeology,
and the Municipal Office of Rehabilitation (EVISLUSA).
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4 . R o l e o f t h e w a l l s w i t h t h e r e g a r d t o t h e O U V o f t h e
W H p r o p e r t y a n d i t s m a n a g e m e n t s y s t e m
WH-Qualities
The defenses of Lugo are the most complete and best preserved example of Roman military
architecture in the Western Roman Empire.
WH-Comparative analysis
In terms of completeness and intactness, there are no Roman defenses comparable with those
of Lugo. The circuit at Carcassonne is complete, but underwent substantial modification and
extension in the medieval period. Similarly, those of Avila are essentially medieval in their
present form.
The surviving sections of the wall of Le Mans are more impressive, but the circuit is not
complete.
WH-Brief description
The walls of Lugo were built in the later 2nd century to defend the Roman town of Lucus. The
entire circuit survives intact and is the finest example of late Roman fortifications in western
Europe.
Some 1700 years after they were built, the walls of Lugo possess fundamental values which
make them unique from the archaeological and historical points of view.
As an archaeological monument representative of defensive architecture, they are one of the
most important, if not the most important, in the whole of Roman Hispania, and certainly in that
period, since this is the only complete urban defensive wall surviving anywhere in the Roman
Empire. It is as a result the most studied and best known Roman monument in Galicia and one
of the most significant in understanding the type and level of Romanization over a considerable
part of the Iberian peninsula.
Furthermore, as a defensive wall that includes the entire historic centre of the town of Lugo, it
has played and continues to play a critical role in the historical development of the town. While
maintaining the original Roman circuit, in terms of both construction and location, the defenses
demonstrate the passage of time in their walls, their gates, their towers, and other
constructional elements and the urban evolution of the town. They record in an indelible fashion
not only the heritage aspects but also the quality of life, the social framework, and even the
economic framework of the town.
The walls provide unrivalled proof of the historical evolution of the town of Lugo and its
surroundings, not only in the Roman period from which its original structure dates, but also of all
the periods that followed, since they reflect an important interchange of influences in
archaeological, urbanistic, and even landscape terms.
So many of those renovations did not reduce but increase the Wall´s heritage value with the
incorporation of new elements characteristic of sucesive histórical periods. Its outstanding
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archaeological importance is thus raised to a level of permanence and continuing use not often
observed so clearly.
Moreover, the city council commemorates each year the anniversary of the declaration as a World
Heritage and strengthens its values in this celebration:
The walls bear unique and exceptional witness to the Roman civilization in its provincial and
peripheral manifestations, both civil and military. It is, in particular, an archaeological and
historical monument that presents an unparalleled paradigm of the Late Roman Empire.
The walls are an outstanding example of the type of construction and architectural and
archaeological group which illustrates various significant periods of human history. Starting with
their Roman origins and passing through the problematical Middle Ages to the innovatory and
disturbed 19th century, they unite in a single monumental construction more than 2km long
different proofs and facets of the evolution of a town such as Lugo (itself an historical and
artistic ensemble) from the original Lucus Augusti.
It is an outstanding example linked with a human settlement that occupied the urban space in a
special way, since the walls were and are still a model in the organization of the space and of
the life of the town.
The walls are, directly or indirectly, associated with activities relating to the experience and
traditions, including oral ones, of the town of Lugo, since they are an integral element in daily
life and undoubted physical and material reference points for its inhabitants (and also for its
foreign visitors), and a monument the level of use of which by the community is particularly
worthy of being emphasized.
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5 . M a i n c h a l l e n g e s a n d o p p o r t u n i t i e s c o n c e r n i n g
w a l l s m a n a g e m e n t
In addition to the three awards mentioned in the first point: "Muramiñae" ,“Lugo+Biodinamico” and
“Smart City Lugo“ that will promote sustainable urbanism through the force that radiates the wall as a
heritage of humanity, to spread its importance more if it fits and will arise new ideas for its management
in the transnational exchange that these programs entail.
Another local very important project is:"MURALLA DIGITAL"(Digital Wall) is a project co-financed by
the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the second
call of the Spain-Portugal Cross-Border Cooperation Program 2007-2013 (POCTEP). It consist in
creation of a network of walled cities of Galicia and Northern Portugal that are committed to joint
management for the valorisation of their historical and archaeological heritage through the New
Technologies of Information and Communication (NTIC's). This project not only contributes an
exhaustive documentation of the monument for his diffusion but it is a suitable database to be able to
improve the management of the wall for his tridimensionalization and the possibilities that contributes
for new ideas that arise as recreations of the original epoch or urban development.
Other opportunity is in fact Lugo has been and continues to be an obligatory stop-off on one of the
routes of pilgrimate to Santiago, the so-called “Primitive Way” and recently was declared as well World
Heritage 2015, and all the Cathedrals of the way like thus Lugo´s Cathedral is another World heritage.
The international repercussion of this last fact is an opportunity that the Regional Authority (Xunta)
collects in the Regional Integral Tourism Plan, not only for the potential of The Way itself but also to
unite it with the rest of the World Heritage of Galicia, Old Town of Santiago de Compostela, Tower of
Hercules (A Coruña). This opportunity is already beginning to be fruitful, from the city council tourism
ofice we know that Lugo received more than 46,500 visitors in 2016, 13% more than last year,
increasing both domestic tourism, but also the international "This shows that the select range heritage
and culture of the city Council, which also seeks to extend the geography of tourist Lugo face parishes
outside the city, is effective. in the city bet on tourism, which continues to fatten figures GDP every
year, increasing in the last five years from the 10.2% to 11.1%, "he said.
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6 . M a i n p a s t , o n - g o i n g o r p l a n n e d a c t i v i t i e s f o r
e n h a n c i n g t h e w a l l s
The Master Plan for the Conservation and Restoration of the Roman Walls of Lugo (1992) covered
proposals for actions to be taken in respect of research and techniques of restoration. This was
followed in 1997 by the Special Plan for the Protection and Internal Reform of the Fortified Enceinte of
the Town of Lugo (PEPRI), which is concerned principally with the urban environment of the historic
town. However, it has a direct impact on the protection afforded to the walls, in terms of traffic planning,
the creation of open spaces, and regulation of building heights. Another planning instrument which
affects the walls is the Special Plan for the Protection of the Miño [river], approved by the municipality
at the beginning of 1998.
There is at the present time no management plan sensu stricto for the walls in operation in Lugo: work
is continuing on the basis of the 1992 plan. Nor is there a technical unit specifically responsible for the
conservation and restoration of the walls. It is against this background that serious consideration is
being given to the creation of an independent foundation, under royal patronage and with
representatives from government, academic, voluntary, and business institutions, to work with the
General Directorate of Cultural Heritage of Galicia. The work plan of this body would include the
development and implementation of integrated conservation, restoration, and maintenance program.
Meanwhile, the great importance of the monument has made strong collaboration with the living forces
of the city: historians, architects, engineers, sociologists, biologists, etc. This collaboration has taken
place from the private sphere, but essentially from the public, the research work of the University are
being fundamental and have contributed and continue to make vital documentation for the
maintenance, protection and interpretation of both the Wall itself and the indissoluble City that
surrounds and surrounds it.
However, although it is true that from the aesthetic and even conservationist point of view the
monument benefits from cleanliness, its also to be considered than an interesting variety is lost in the
naturalistic sense, since it is an ecological niche for varied and very specific flora and fauna. Like the
royal Apus-Apus bird that only nests in the wall and so during the month that comes to Lugo (the rest,
11 months, they pass surprisingly flying) we must stop the cleaning work. But these investigations of
the Campus of Lugo add in any case a new value to the wall and therefore are another opportunity on
this occasion with the scientific community.
On the other hand, as already indicated each administration from their own competencies has been
carrying out different activities and has new proposals that are listed below:
Local Authorities of Lugo City Council:
PEPRI, a book “The Wall of Lugo, World Heritage”, Visitors’ Centre for the Walls, the new awards,
Muralla Digital, y las actividades más festivas , Arde Lucus, San Froilan, commemoration anniversary
World Heritage etc. And the promotion through of local, regional, national and international conventions
of tourism like FITUR where in the edition of this year 2017 Lugo opt for sustainable tourism,
sustainable urbanism, etc, were everything has a role, in connecting, because we are a resilient city
that wants to take advantage of resources and capabilities to improvement. Another example or this is
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that the surrounding Wall serves to regulate vehicular traffic, which affects the state of conservation
and its value heritage and for this question recently have been decreed the reduction the speed of
traffic and in the future achieve the pedetrianization of that important “roundabout”.
Regional Authorities of the Xunta de Galicia,
Master Plan and carry out it about conservation and investigation, Regional Integral Tourism Plan and
execute the proposals coming from the State Authorities.
There is a great collaboration of habitual way with the technical and administrative departments of the
Xunta de Galicia in Lugo and the city council, proof of this is that the city has just been finalist for the
Access City Award of the European Commission, promoted by the City council and choose as main
example the installation, realized by the Xunta, of an elevator to the wall.
In short, Lugo´s Wall offers unquestionable archaeological, historical and monumental value, unique
compare with other similar sites from the same or other Roman periods, as well as diverse uses and
functions. Along with these qualities there is a human and symbolic meaning which increases the
original importance of its heritage and culture. Independently, then, of other values and uses, Lugo´s
walled enclosure is unique in that it combines a huge heritage value with a social use that is deeply
rooted in the community (both native and non-native). This is achieved through its archaeological and
historical authenticity and physical integrity, since all the periods reflected in it and all its features-
original, added or renovated-from a unique, unrepeatable whole which is vital to the continuity of Lugo
as a city, apart from being recognized, because of its own value, a cultural structure considered World
Heritage.
i This document has been drafted by Empresa Municipal de Vivenda e Solo de Lugo SA. Authors are responsible for the
choice and the presentation of the facts contained in this paper and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization