Culture

Culture.

These days many small villages in the interior of the Valencian Region find themselves in a difficult situation due to the crisis affecting the dated agricultural practices of the mid half of the last century. These villages have been suffering a slow process of depopulation and economic stagnation.

However, for those municipal areas which are on the so called "2nd line of the coast" there is a very different panorama. This is thanks to the boost generated by "rural tourism" which has been in constant growth in Spain, due to the popularity of such aspects as rural heritage and the search for an alternative to the traditional "Tourism of Sun, Sea and Sand". Rural tourism has became a key factor of social regeneration and economic recovery.

Orxeta fits in perfectly within this context. It is a small municipal barely, 24 km² in area and with a population of 800. But it has a privileged natural setting and cultural heritage as well as having good communication links and is close to the coast and to a number of popular tourist resorts.

As a consequence and parallel to the growth in tourism, there has also been a necessary increase in the amount of construction due to the requirements of a developing infrastructure and the demand for second homes. This affects large areas of land which contain a variety of different heritage features (archaeological, ethnographic, palaeontological etc,...).

This raises a serious problem with regards to the protection and conservation of heritage in rural areas, which needs to be urgently addressed by putting into place local preventative legislation. This legislation is not only to be used as a strategic resource for local economic development but also to safeguard one of the "main identifying characteristics of the Valencian people and evidence of their contribution to universal culture" (the preamble to the Valencian Cultural Heritage Law 4/1998 (11th June), passed by the Valencian Regional Council).

This huge task is the responsibility of the departments of culture but for it to succeed, everyone's collaboration is needed.

In line with the principles of the Valencian Cultural Heritage Law 4/1998, we are convinced that the protection and conservation of the cultural heritage cannot simply be achieved by the putting into place of a number of preventative, prohibitive and penalizing measures, by the local governments and public powers at be. The collaboration of society, through education, information, diffusion and campaigns of awareness is the cornerstone essential for the safeguarding of this heritage.