The Minister of Culture and Sports, Miquel Iceta, has signed an agreement this Monday in Tarragona with the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, to undertake ten projects for the restoration and maintenance of historical heritage for tourist use owned by the state for a amount of 35 million euros.
This investment is part of the Modernization and Competitiveness Plan for the tourism sector financed with European funds. The objective is to improve the capacity of the rich historical and cultural heritage of Spain throughout the territory to continue attracting both national and international tourists, as indicated by the Ministry in a press release.
The Ministry of Culture and Sports will be in charge of carrying out these ten projects in various cities, all of cultural and tourist interest, “with direct implications for the cultural, environmental and economic sustainability of the environments in which they are located.”
On the one hand, 15 million euros will be allocated to the reform and enhancement of state-owned museums and transferred management of Cáceres and Tarragona, both World Heritage. Specifically, 7 million will be allocated to the Tarragona Museum and 8 million to the Cáceres Museum.
On the other hand, 4.7 million euros will be allocated to the restoration and consolidation of castles and public walls declared an Asset of Cultural Interest and of Tourist Interest. The castles of Sagunto (Valencia), Adsubia (Alicante) and Santed (Zaragoza) will be consolidated and restored. Several sections of the Zamora wall and the wall of the town of Burgo de Osma (Soria) will also be restored. The distribution between the different actions will be made depending on the needs of each of the projects.
Finally, 15,279,959 euros will be allocated to the Landscape of Light in Madrid, declared a World Heritage Site last year. 8.5 million euros will be invested in rehabilitation projects for the National Library, 5.6 million euros in the Reina Sofía National Art Center Museum (main headquarters and Palacio de Velázquez-Parque del Retiro) and 1.09 million euros in Prado National Museum.
All these actions must have been carried out before the end of the second quarter of 2026 to comply with the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.
The Spanish historical heritage is a “key” element in attracting tourists. Approximately 14.5 million of the trips made in 2019 were made for cultural purposes.
Spain has around 17,199 assets of cultural interest distributed throughout the Spanish geography, especially in rural or inland areas.
Proper maintenance of historical heritage real estate “will allow destinations to promote themselves and attract tourists” by offering visits or accommodation in these real estate and improving their socioeconomic indicators, such as local development and employment.
