Nomination to the

World Heritage List

Ribeira Sacra
Executive Summary
 Year 573

The founding heading

of the monastery of San Pedro de Rocas

is the first documentary demonstration

from Western Europe

 0. Executive summary
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
State Party
Spain
State, province and region
Autonomous Community of Galicia,
provinces of Lugo and Ourense.
Name of the Property
Ribeira Sacra
Ribeiras view
(Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil). mm
4
Geographical coordinates
to the nearest second
The property consists of four components, with the
following centroids:
Ribeiras
(Os Peares, meeting of the rivers Miño and Sil,
which share 2 provinces and 4 municipalities):
42°27’14”N; 7°43’50”W
Heredad de Rocas:
42°20’30.72”N; 7°42’48.36”W
Heredad de Montederramo:
42°16’28.03”N; 7°30’7.80”W
Heredad de Ferreira de Pantón:
42°30’30.63”N; 7°37’10.96”W
 Legend
Property
Buffer zone
Detail of the Carta Geométrica de Galicia. D.
Fontán. (1834). The first map made in Spain with
scientific methods and mathematical measurements
 0. Executive summary
Textual description of the boundary(ies)
of the nominated property
Ribeira Sacra is a continuous cultural landscape
that has evolved organically to constitute an ex-
ceptional example of the man-nature relationship
linked to the traditional way of life and that is pre-
sented as a serial Property. This territory of ver-
tiginous slopes, is located in the interior of Galicia
around the boxed-in valleys of the Miño and Sil,
defining the meeting of the provinces of Lugo and
Ourense, which in the high Middle Ages welcomed
the confluence of east and west.
An imperceptible mesh formed by parishes es-
tablished more than 1,500 years ago and whose lim-
its remain today, has surpassed its original religious
symbolism to become a community of belonging,
social and economic organisation, which still sur-
vives. In this environment and on this structure
of the territory, arises the Serial Property that is
proposed, formed by four components: Ribeiras,
Heredad de Rocas, Heredad de Montederramo and
Heredad de Ferreira de Pantón.
The largest component, Ribeiras, is a territory
characterised by the deep boxing-in of the fluvial
network. The topography, climatic conditions and
contrasts between sunny and shady slopes have
conditioned the occupation of the territory and the
persistent construction in terraces of a landscape
of extraordinary value.
The other three components of the Property
are located in the vicinity of Ribeiras, with whom
they maintain a strong bond of historical and
spiritual belonging.
The Heredad de Rocas, with 452 ha, symbolises
the ascetic landscape defined by an uninhabited
space, in a rugged orography, which has water as
the minimum guarantee of survival conditions, in
which the jump from heresy to the first monastic
order was produced.
The Heredad de Montederramo, with 10 ha,
represents the monastic connection with the col-
onisation of the territory, being one of the main
Cistercian monasteries in Galicia, providing the
toponym that defines the Ribeira Sacra area in its
dual natural and cultural meaning.
6
The Heredad de Ferreira de Pantón, with 40
ha, houses a unique monastery, which exemplifies
the persistence of the sacredness in the territory,
as its current community is the direct heir of the
one founded at the end of the 12th century.
Ribeira Sacra preserves the signs of an in-
tense occupation from the Palaeolithic period to
the present day, petroglyphs, castros, nomadic
sanctuaries and especially hermitages that give
way to a medieval splendour unknown in the
Christian West, as witnessed by the great mon-
asteries, followed by the unique pazos and great
Renaissance and Baroque houses, and the 20th
century hydroelectric power stations, precursors
in their category of a new relationship with the
landscape. Around them, the presence of forests
that were humanised and made sacred, together
with a rich toponymy with thousands of unique
names. Today a mosaic of almost one hundred
thousand tiny plots that do not reach an average
of 400m² make up a landscape reservoir and
laboratory to combat climate change. Along with
this built legacy, we find countless samples of
ethnographic heritage, to which are added a set
of myths, legends and festivals specific to the
place. All of this, together with particular forms
of land and property management such as the
cavadura, which make up a territory with an
outstanding presence of socalcos, dry stone wall
terraces, in which today the heroic cultivation of
vines and chestnut trees predominate, defining
an iconic landscape that has historically capti-
vated those who visit it.
In order to protect the Property, the buffer zone
surrounds it completely and connects its four com-
ponents, on the basis of the parish boundaries, an
essential element of the identity structure of the
territory, guaranteeing the safeguarding of the Out-
standing Universal Value (OUV).
In addition, a study area is established, made
up of all those municipalities that have historical-
ly recognised themselves as being part of Ribeira
Sacra. This area is a key area for the current and
future management of the site, in an approach
that allows the evolution of the landscape to be
followed and ensure its preservation.
 Galicia

Province of Lugo
Miño River

Spain
Sil River

Province of Ourense

Summary plan of the candidature

DATA

Miño River Buffer zone area (ha): 53,177

Portomarín Property area (ha): 16,973

Parish Buffer Zone: 106

Number of plots of the property: 96,125
Average size plot (m²): 394
Population in the property (2018): 1,433
42° 44,0'N Paradela Population in the buffer zone (2018): 9,090
7° 48,0'W

Taboada

O Saviñao
Bóveda Province of Lugo
Chantada

A Pobra do Brollón
Pantón

Carballedo Monforte de Lemos

Heredad de Ferreira de Pantón
Bubal River Lor River

Quiroga
Cabe River
Ribeiras
A Peroxa
Sober
Ribas
0' N

de Sil
'5 4''
'W
43 '1
7° ° 27

Sil River
42

San Xoán
Nogueira de de Río
Ramuín Parada
Miño River de Sil Castro Caldelas Navea River
A Teixeira
Bibei River
Legend Heredad de Rocas A Pobra
Property Esgos Xunqueira de de Trives
Espadanedo
Buffer zone
Mao River
Pantón Municipalities of the study area Heredad de Montederramo Manzaneda
Montederramo
Parishes Chandrexa de Queixa 42° 15,0'N
Province of Ourense
Rivers
7° 17,0'W

Ribeira Sacra Galicia, Spain

0 5 10 15km
Nomination for the World Heritage List, on the Indicative List since 1996 (Ref.: 1228) (ETRS89 29N, JUN 2019 )
 0. Executive summary
The delimitation of the Ribeira Sacra Property be-
gins by defining the study area, made up of 25 town
councils that make up a network that intertwines
culture and nature, with the persistent action of
man in their environment.
Once this area has been defined, three groups
of values to be analysed are proposed (natural, cul-
tural and intangible), which are found at the origin
of the creation of this territory, the delimitation of
which is based on three aspects: geomorphological,
cultural and construction of the territory.
Geomorphology takes on special relevance in
the delimitation of the Ribeiras component, char-
acterised by being the territory most built on, made
sacred and having the most heritage, whose limit
is defined on the land in the bocarribeira, which
is the place where the slope changes, going from
values higher than 30%, Ribeiras, to values lower
than 10%, chairas.
The cultural aspect is key in the delimitation,
given the great concentration of heritage elements,
representative of a wide temporal and typological
arch from the hermitage phenomenon to the large
monasteries and contemporary heritage. These
cultural aspects are endorsed by the declaration of
Ribeira Sacra as an Property of Cultural Interest,
in the category of cultural landscape, as well as by
the previous individual declarations of many of its
monuments, and their protective surroundings.
The construction of the territory is related to
the creation of fertile soil in an impossible envi-
ronment, through ancestral practices, which are
an example of sustainability. Where there was the
possibility of generating land, monumental ter-
races and crops appeared, constituting an exam-
ple of an anthropic restructuring resulting from
the accumulation of work, time and knowledge of
the communities. The socalcos characterise the
slopes of the canyons and are mostly located on
slopes with slopes of more than 30%. The cavadu-
8
ra, which was the surface area that a person was
able to cultivate in one day for their sustenance,
defines the map of the plots. This form of adap-
tation to the terrain requires a laborious task of
construction and maintenance, and generates the
appropriate framework for a polyculture, which
benefits from the climatic aptitude of this new
topography.
As a whole, the Property is 16,973 hectares and
includes 78 parishes and 170 population centres in
the municipalities of A Peroxa, A Proba do Brollón,
A Teixeira, Carballedo, Castro Caldelas, Chantada,
Esgos, Monforte de Lemos, Montederramo, Nogue-
ira de Ramuín, O Saviñao, Pantón, Parada de Sil,
Ribas de Sil, San Xoán de Río and Sober, located
in the south of the province of Lugo and the north
of the province of Ourense.
The buffer zone is based on the layout of the
parishes that represent the cultural unity of the
community and testify to the consolidation and
management processes of the territory. Thus, it is
made up of 53,177 hectares of the 106 parishes that
make up or complete the territory of the Proper-
ty, also including parishes of the town councils of
Quiroga, Taboada and Xunqueira de Espadanedo.
In order to strengthen the knowledge, protec-
tion and future management of the site, the study
area is proposed which, in addition to the previous
municipalities, includes all those that form part of
the cultural identity of Ribeira Sacra, incorporating
the municipalities of A Pobra de Trives, Bóveda,
Chandrexa de Queixa, Manzaneda, Paradela and
Portomarín. As a whole, the 25 municipalities of
the study area have an area of 298,614 ha, with
460 parishes, 2,742 population centres and 63,915
inhabitants. This area ensures the optimum man-
agement of the Property, through the existing Con-
sortium and the exercise of the attributions and
competences of the Xunta de Galicia in terms of
safeguarding cultural heritage.
Real topographic sections

9
 0. Executive summary

Draft Statement of Outstanding

Universal Value

Brief synthesis

Ribeira Sacra is an exceptional living evolutionary

cultural landscape and is a singular testimony of
a landscape made sacred that brings to the World
Heritage List the only example preserved in Western
Europe of a monasticism oriented to the ascetic way
created from the heterodox Christianity movement
of Priscillianism, which shook the Church of Rome
and which developed and remained in the Sil and
Miño valleys at the end of the 4th century, leaving a
deep imprint on the Iberian Peninsula. The intense
sanctification of these valleys favoured the appear-
ance in the 6th century of a eremitism inspired by
the Desert Fathers as a result of a cultural transfer

Document in which Alfonso IX confirms to the Santa María Drawing of Rocas in Viaje que yo, Fray Martín Sarmiento,
de Montederramo monastery the donation of the place benedictino, hice desde San Martín de Madrid a Galicia.
“Revoyra sacrata”, granted by Teresa de Portugal in 1124 1754. AMS (Archivo Monasterio Silos) Sarmiento 2, p. 129

Heredad de Rocas. mm

10
between East and West, the Mediterranean and the
Atlantic. The migrations of the 8th-9th centuries
that crossed North Africa and Hispania on their way
to Central Europe, turned this area into a welcom-
ing territory, refuge of the classical tradition that
had survived from Antiquity and was conserved in
the monastery libraries until the Renaissance. This
singular historical evolution, promoted by migrants
carrying the classical tradition and ascetic aspiration
who found an inspiring refuge where to develop a
spiritual life favoured by the isolation and influence
of a symbolic landscape, led to the slow and contin-
uous transformation of the territory by the action of
the communities that occupied it from the Middle
Ages to the present day.
Priscillianism, a Christian heterodoxy rooted in
these lands that defended a poor church in harmony
with nature; Egeria, a noble woman of Gallaecia who
in the 4th century made a pilgrimage to the western
Mediterranean and was the first known author of
a travel book; and Saint Martin of Dumio, founder
of Western monasticism, shaped the personality
of a cultural landscape defined by a sanctification
of the territory and a spiritual life in coexistence
with nature, whose values are maintained in the
serial property made up of the Heredades de Rocas,
Montederramo, Pantón and las Ribeiras.
In the Heredad de Rocas is the oldest docu-
mented testimony (year 573) of the foundation
of an abbey in western Europe, according to the
tombstone of its consecration, becoming the only
surviving monastery of the Suevo kingdom, the
first European kingdom after the fall of the West-
ern Roman Empire, which was built following the
models of the churches of the Turkish Cappadocia.
The Monastery of San Pedro de Rocas evidences
the passage from eremitism of oriental roots to
monasticism, the abandonment of the ascetic life
of penance, contemplation and begging to live in
a community under the orders of an abbot and the
need to maintain the product of their work. The
world map preserved on the walls of the rocky tem-
ple of Rocas, a unique example in the world that
represents the Christian diaspora and the Final
Judgement, illustrates the universalist character
that these valleys had when they were receivers of
classical culture.
The Heredad of Montederramo bears witness
to the historical origin of the Ribeira Sacra name.
In 1124 Infanta Teresa of Portugal donated the ter-
ritories of a forest of sacred oaks called Revoyra
Sacrata to the monastic community of Santa Maria
de Montederramo. This toponym was interpreted
in the 16th century by the Benedictine chronicler
Father Yepes as the sacred banks of the Miño and Sil
because of their high concentration of monasteries,
a meaning that has been maintained ever since.
La Heredad de Pantón exemplifies the survival
of monastic life in Ribeira Sacra and the leading
role of the female orders between the 9th and 15th
centuries, when they came to hold power that was
unthinkable for women in the civil society of the
time. The monastic community of Pantón symbol-
izes spirituality and resilience throughout the thou-
sand years it has been housed in this monastery.
The Ribeiras are the most extensive compo-
nent of the Property and represent the result of the
confluence of a unique nature and the exception-
al construction of a landscape over the centuries.
The first is defined by the steep of the landscapes
of geological significance of ollo de sapo, the au-
tochthonous forests of carballos, castiñeiros and
corticeiras and the abundant water courses that
descend the slopes. The second is characterised by
the network of traditional roads, the historical rail-
way, the traditional towns and especially the very
abundant sets of monasteries, churches and sanctu-
aries, symbols of the sanctification of the space and
the monumental terraces, which rise uphill from
the bottom of the valleys to the bocarribeira and
in the interstices of the rocky outcrops, defining a
unique and exceptional landscape.
The forest of churches, remains of the 85 doc-
umented throughout history, is a paradigm of that
spirituality linked to nature and a reflection of the
beliefs of a people and of the cultural syncretism
that combines animism, paganism, Christianity
and new creeds that defend the balance of nature
and Humanity.
The exceptional landscape of Ribeira Sacra is
the result of the continuous action of the commu-
nities, which transformed inhospitable and inac-
cessible valleys, with slopes of impossible slopes
building dry stone walls, designed to create new
11
 0. Executive summary
anthropic lands, fertilized by the deposition of
organic matter, that secularly were dedicated to
the polyculture in a subsistence agriculture, and
that at present the communities continue work-
ing manually using ancestral techniques. When
industrialisation produced radical changes in the
economic and social systems, the communities of
Ribeira Sacra once again demonstrated extraor-
dinary resilience, adapting to new conditions, till-
ing new plots, sustaining the traditional use and
structure of the territory and maintaining symbolic
relations with the landscape.
Justification for Criteria
Criterion (iii):
To provide a unique, or at least exceptional, tes-
timony about a cultural tradition or a living or
vanished civilization.
Ribeira Sacra is a unique testimony of mo-
nasticism characterised by the influence that the
Priscilianist heresy had on Gallaecia (4th-6th cen-
turies) and the subsequent reform and cor-rection
undertaken by the church headed by San Martín
de Dumio, which allows us to document the birth
of the Western monasticism in 573 with the conse-
cration of the cenobitic community of San Pedro
de Rocas made up of six monks of various origins,
following the models of the Eastern monasteries,
symbol of the new order and meeting point be-
tween East and West.
Criterion (iv):
To be an outstanding example of a type of build-
ing, architectural, or technological ensemble, or
landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s)
in human history.
Ribeira Sacra represents a unique example of
the sacralisation of an entire territory, as reflected
in its own historical name, which demonstrates
the existence of an exceptionally high concentra-
tion of monasteries since the early Middle Ages in
a small area around the deep valleys of the Miño
and Sil, which has maintained a unique set of ab-
beys that in the 8th and 9th centuries served as
a refuge for migrations from North Africa, bear-
ers of classical culture, meeting point of East and
12
West, and that for a thousand five hundred years
managed this territory.
Criterion (v):
To be a prominent example of traditional forms of
human settlement or use of land or sea, represent-
ative of a culture (or several cultures), or of man’s
interaction with the environment, especially when
the environment has become vulnerable due to the
impact of irreversible changes.
Ribeira Sacra is an exceptional cultural land-
scape in which the combined action of the local
communities and a singular nature is represent-
ed, and which maintains the characteristics with
which it was built, forming a unique testimony of
the structure of the territory: some local commu-
nities organised in parishes, identity units that
emerged in the 6th century and that by means
of the presura and the forum (ecclesiastical and
stately concessions), which were created between
the 8th and 9th centuries, promoted the creation
of anthropic and fertile lands in the ribeiras (deep
valleys) by means of the construction of socalcos
(monumental terraces) intended for the polycul-
ture of subsistence in very small plots, the cavadura
(436m2). A unique territory that also continues to
work with traditional techniques and in which the
built, humanized landscape coexists with the wild,
untamed natural landscape.
Statement of Integrity
This serial Property presents a high degree of in-
tegrity in all its components. In the proposed de-
limitation, all the elements that allow its adequate
reading and comprehension are conserved, as there
have been no significant alterations that could call
this into question. These essential elements appear
clearly defined at any scale that is examined, while
they blur when the boundaries of the property are
crossed. The natural, geographical and cultural
boundaries coincide with the administrative and
protection figures, ensuring that the high degree of
integrity that the property presents today is main-
tained in the future.
This is manifested in the exceptional mainte-
nance of the steep valleys of the Ribeiras, in the
anthropised slopes, in the micro-small holdings
of the plots, in the varied and diversified network
of historical roads and paths, which maintains
the dispersion of the habitat, in the subsistence
agriculture based on polyculture, in the survival
of the traditional architectures and in the social
and cultural organisation based on the parish-
es of medieval origin. These defining elements
are conserved even in areas that are not being
exploited and that preserve the visible and inte-
gral traces and characteristics of the anthropized
landscape, with the possibility of again adapting
this to production. A portion of this landscape
has remained under the waters of the reservoirs
and constitutes a relict landscape of paths, ter-
races and towns, which appear at certain times,
reminding us of their origin.
There is also a high degree of integrity in the
monuments, archaeological sites and places of eth-
nological interest, located in the Ribeiras as well
as in the Heredades de Rocas, Montederramo and
Ferreira de Pantón, examples of the occupation
and exploitation of the territory for 1,500 years,
which are within the limits of the delimited Prop-
erty, presenting a good state of conservation and
helping to establish the integrity of the property.
To conclude, the proposed delimitation repre-
sents all the elements on which the Outstanding
Universal Value is based and its degree of conser-
vation is adequate, and there are specific legislative
and economic measures for its protection.
Authenticity is also reinforced by the perma-
nence of thousands of hectares of terraces built
with the traditional dry stone technique, a small
and complex plot that has been maintained in the
traditional dimensions and characteristics, a rich
and persistent micro toponymy, and a varied pop-
ular architecture, mostly in use.
Authenticity is also evident in the preserva-
tion of traditions, which for centuries have been
maintained, highlighting the culture of crops and
craftsmanship. To this should be added the survival
of its own cultural manifestations, such as dialects
(papeiros é rabudos and barallete), or myths and
legends that have remained alive in the collective
memory of its people.
The festivities are another example that the
memory of the local community stays alive, with
manifestations such as the fachós, which unite pa-
gan and Christian beliefs around a fire that purifies
and repels the bad spirits, or the carnivals, with
unique examples like the Entroido Ribeirao and its
Volantes, the Oso de Salcedo and the Felo de Esgos.

Statement of Authenticity

The authenticity of this cultural landscape is based

on an abundant body of original historical docu-
mentation, such as the donation document by Te-
resa of Portugal to the Monastery of Santa Maria de
Montederramo in 1124 or the remains of the only
known stone world map preserved in San Pedro de
Rocas that shows images of the diaspora.
In addition, many buildings and constructions,
recognised and protected for their cultural value,
are preserved in their entirety. The various actions
of restoration and rehabilitation in the extensive
cultural heritage of Ribeira Sacra have always fol-
lowed the principles of the Venice Charter. Chestnut growing (Entrambosrios, Ourense). mm

13
 0. Executive summary
Requirements for protection
and management
Ribeira Sacra has specific legislative and admin-
istrative tools that guarantee the application of
measures to safeguard its cultural values through
the declaration of Cultural Interest, in the category
of Cultural Landscape, after an extensive process
of public exhibition and participation.
This declaration in turn takes into account a
specific and concrete protection regime of the at-
tributes of this landscape that allows for the imple-
mentation of measures aimed at their conservation
and protection.
In the cultural field, the interventions carried
out in the last sixty years aimed at the study,
analysis, cataloguing, conservation and resto-
ration of the most outstanding ensembles, from
the pioneering transfers of the monuments of the
1960s that connect with the origin of the Con-
Cañón del Sil in Sober. mm
14
vention, to the Pilot Plan of 1991, and the reg-
istration on the Indicative List in 1996, should
be be mentioned.
In terms of landscape appreciation, the Area of
Special Interest (AEIP) Ribeira Sacra has been de-
fined and several guides, manuals of best practices
and recommendations have been developed.
In terms of natural heritage, the regional govern-
ment is working with local entities to create a Bio-
sphere Reserve that will revitalise and integrate the
abundant natural spaces already declared in the area.
In addition, the Decree of Declaration of the
Cultural Landscape Ribeira Sacra, takes into ac-
count the specific measures to make the conser-
vation compatible with the agricultural and live-
stock activities, as well as sustainable tourist use,
according to the action that the Consortium has
been undertaking for many years, and all this with
the participation of its inhabitants, true protago-
nists of the site.
Name and contact information of
the official local institution

Xunta de Galicia.
Dirección Xeral de Patrimonio Cultural
patrimonio.cultura@xunta.es
https://candidaturaribeirasacra.gal
Edificio administrativo San Caetano, s/n
15781 Santiago de Compostela. Galicia. Spain
(+34) 981 544 809

Year 2019. Ferreira de Pantón

Monastery’s Cloister, occupied by the
Congregation of Cistercian nuns. rn

15
Nomination to the
World Heritage List

Ribeira Sacra
Executive Summary