Estratégias de gestão e de conservação para a paisagem cultural de Sintra, Património Mundial

Abstract

The Cultural Landscape of Sintra, classified in 1995 by UNESCO as World Heritage Site, is the testimony of a unique symbiosis between Nature and Man. The specific microclimate and lush vegetation gives to Serra de Sintra the bucolic spirit that promoted, since long times, its occupation by different cultures: From Neolithic vestiges to the medieval Suntria; convents and hermitages scattered throughout the solitude of the Sierra, the establishment of the royal court and nobles in their recreational farms, harmoniously arranged amidst the massive granite blocks and the lush vegetation brought from various parts of the world. The Landscape of Sintra was built under artistic and literary influences, being even today considered as a reference of the expression of the Romanticism, which influenced the Europe of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This unit, also integrating the Natural Park of Sintra-Cascais, is characterized as well as a rich area, but highly sensitive. The current urban pressure and constant threats to the preservation of this site, including the forest area, motivated the development of the present research, in order to the pursuit of conservation of this landscape of incomparable value, as well as its maintenance as a classified heritage of UNESCO. As the main objective, we intend to develop a proposal for a new Management Plan for this Cultural Landscape, seeking a coherent development from the standpoint of tourism and economic development. With the design of strategies aiming the protection of the site, by leveraging their capital gains, dissemination and transfer of knowledge to the communities, the maintenance and the perpetuation of cultural identity, the ecological values and the biodiversity of the Sierra will be assured, thus allowing the full experience in this heritage