Buildings with Maximum Heritage Protection

This map includes the buildings from the Docomomo Ibérico Registry that have been awarded maximum heritage protection in Spain through the different figures that exist in the regional legislation derived from the devolution to the Autonomous Communities of powers regarding heritage. It also reflects constructions that, while they have not been awarded individual protection, are covered by a broader scope of protection, as is the case of the University City of Madrid or the town of Cadaqués.

Of the 17,819 properties from different historical periods that have been awarded the highest level of heritage protection according to data from the Ministry of Culture and Sport,¹ only 100 correspond to the Modern Movement, 171 if we include those covered by broader heritage protection criteria.

This cold, hard data leads us to certain conclusions, which may be hasty, but are not without some truth. It demonstrates the scant protection that has been so far afforded to the  architecture of the Modern Movement.

The territorial vision derived from viewing this data on a map also reveals the different sensitivities of territorial governments that have resulted in the recognition of the heritage value of this architecture.

While the territorial representation is unequal, so is the reflection of the architectures of modernity and the authors who built them. Essential works of 20th-century architecture are missing from this map, as are numerous figures that were crucial to its development.

A more comprehensive vision of the Modern Movement’s impact in Spain and its best architecture has been the focus of studies sponsored by the Ministry of Culture through the Cultural Heritage Institute of Spain. We are referring here to the studies developed within the framework of the National Plan for the Protection of 20th-Century Cultural Heritage, which highlighted 256 buildings from the period between 1925 and 1965, and 155 buildings from between 1965 and 1975, undertaken by the Docomomo Ibérico Foundation in separate instances.²

The dates of the declarations, which are included with the dossiers in the information sheets corresponding to each of the buildings, also provide significant information: while, in the year 2000, there were only 17 buildings that had been declared cultural heritage (BIC), in the 21st century, interest in this heritage has grown among some regional administrations, in a tendency that should be only natural as we move farther away in time from the period in which they were built.

Of course, the data reflected here is incomplete. A global overview of the state of protection of the architecture of the Modern Movement should also reflect its inclusion in municipal catalogues of built heritage. That inclusion may be more quick-moving, and some see it as more appropriate to this architecture’s characteristics. However, it is essential for these buildings to be declared as heritage with the maximum level of protection, as this would equate them with the buildings from other eras that are already accepted as the best examples of the architecture of their historical periods.

We invite you to carefully examine the documentation for each of the buildings, available through the links on this map. Despite shortcomings of all kinds in their construction, or perhaps even because of those pressures, the architecture is of undeniable quality, and its value is reflected in the photographic reports that have been realized with the support of the Ministry of Culture, and which are included in the buildings’ information sheets.

January 2024

1. According to data from 2000 published on the website of the Ministry of Culture and Sport
2. The buildings belonging to 1925-1965 can be accessed consultarse here. The ones comprised between 1965 and 1975, here.