Ávila World Heritage City

Avila was included in the UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1985 as recognition of a set of outstanding universal values that must be conserved and passed down as a legacy for future generations, summarised in accordance with the following criteria:

Criterion (iii): To bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a civilisation which is living or which has disappeared

“For being an example of a fortified city that has conserved its walls intact. The density of civil and religious monuments both inside and outside the walls make it an example of extraordinary value”

Criterion (iv): to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history.

For being an example of repopulation started by the Kingdom of Castile after the reconquest of Toledo. Highlighting the outstanding mediaeval character of the City of Ávila, with a combination of both religious and defence elements.

The mediaeval walls and the Romanesque extra-muros churches of San Pedro, San Vicente, San Andrés and San Segundo are the buildings that are expressly mentioned in the inscription as the main repositories of said values and those which give it its name: “Old Town of Ávila with its Extra-Muros Churches”.

The inscription made in 1985, together with the declaration as a historical ensemble, entails recognition of the city’s value and its conservation. In 2007, the UNESCO confirmed its recognition by adopting an extension to the original inscription to include the churches of San Nicolás, Santa María de la Cabeza and San Martín, together with the convents of La Encarnación and San José and the Royal Monastery of Santo Tomás. The new inscription includes not only mediaeval elements, but also elements from the 16th century, the city’s period of splendour, which is a step forward in the integral understanding of the city.