Catalogue of Protected Buildings and Areas

Catalogue of Protected Buildings and Areas.

Today, an adequate legal framework exists to ensure the efficient protection of the heritage, especially after the passing of the Valencian Cultural Heritage Law 4/98.  This has a conciliatory slant and tries to harmonise, as much as possible, conservation with the necessity of urban development, taking into consideration  a high level of social well being and quality of life of which everyone has the right to.

Amongst the National and Regional regulations which relate to the safeguarding of heritage, the following are the most important:

• LAW 16/1985, 25th June, “Patrimonio Histórico Español” (Spanish Historical Heritage).

• LAW 16/2005, 30th December, “Urbanística Valenciana” (Valencian Town Planning) passed by the Valencian Regional Council.

• LAW 4/1998, 11th June, “Patrimonio Cultural Valenciano” (Valencian Cultural Heritage) passed by the Valencian Regional Council.

However, all these laws are practically useless without the existence, in the different municipal areas, of precise and up to date inventories of those sites and areas which require special protection.  In the case of Orxeta these constitute areas of archaeological and ethnographic value and interest.

The Catalogue is a decisive factor, as it is an excellent tool for protecting the cultural heritage, being the platform from which any prior intervention work can be carried out, before the approval of any building project.  This therefore reduces the number of possibly bitter conflicts between the local council and developers or property owners.

For all the above reasons there is a need, as well as the obligation, to create a Catalogue of Protected Sites and Areas.

In accordance with what was set out in the Ley Urbanistica Valenciana (Valencian Town Planning Law), the Catalogues of Protected Sites and Areas are recognised as one of the determining factors in the “Planes Generales de Ordenación Urbana” (General Plan of Urban Organisation) and “will formalize the local governments polices of conservation, restoration and protection of the immovable properties (sites and buildings) and of areas of interest. For that purpose those sites which are considered to be of artistic, historical, palaeontological, archaeological, ethnographic, architectural, or botanical interest and those sites with a traditional or cultural aspect, will be selected. In other words those sites which represent the collective cultural heritage or for reasons of landscape should be conserved “(article 77).

Therefore, the creation of the Catalogues of Protected Sites and Areas by the different municipal administrations constitutes a fundamental resource.  However, an effective policy of conservation and promotion of this rich culture will only succeed if the inventory is as complete as possible and includes all those elements of cultural heritage that require special protection.

In 2004, in response to the creation of a new “Plan General de Ordenación Urbana” (General Plan of Town Planning), Orxeta’s Catalogue of Protected Sites and Areas was completed.  This made available, from then on, an exhaustive, detailed and up to date inventory of all the different local heritage features, and created the necessary administrative base for their management.