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