List of World Heritage Sites in Spain

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage.

As of 2010, Spain has 42 total sites on the list. This is second only to Italy.

The Pyrénées – Mont Perdu World Heritage Site is shared with France. The Prehistoric Rock-Art Sites in the Côa Valley and Siega Verde site is shared with Portugal.

List of sites

The table lists information about each World Heritage Site:

Name: as listed by the World Heritage Committee

Location: city or province of site

Community: one of the 17 autonomous communities of Spain

Period: time period of significance, typically of construction

UNESCO data: the site's reference number; the year the site was added on the World Heritage List; the criteria it was listed under: criteria i through vi are cultural, while vii through x are natural; (the column sorts by year added to the list)

Description: brief description of the site

Name	Image	Location	Community	Period	UNESCO data	Description	Ref(s)
Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain		Santillana del Mar	Cantabria	Upper Paleolithic	310; 1985, 2008 (extended); i, iii	The Cave of Altamira has cave painting from the Upper Paleolithic, 35,000 to 11,000 BC.
Old Town of Segovia and its Aqueduct		Segovia	Castile and León	1st to 16th centuries	311; 1985; i, iii, iv	A Roman aqueduct, the medieval Alcázar palace, and the cathedral.
Monuments of Oviedo and the Kingdom of the Asturias		Oviedo	Asturias	9th century	312; 1985, 1998 (extended); i, ii, iv	The Kingdom of Asturias was the only Christian region of Spain in the 9th century. It developed its own style of Pre-Romanesque art and architecture.
Historic Centre of Córdoba		Córdoba	Andalusia	7th to 13th centuries	313; 1984, 1994 (extended); i, ii, iii, iv	The Great Mosque of Córdoba is a 7th-century mosque converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral in the 13th century. During Moorish rule, Córdoba looked like Constantinople and Baghdad.
Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzín		Granada	Andalusia	14th century	314; 1984, 1994 (extended); i, iii, iv	Moorish influence in southern Spain. The Alhambra and the palace Generalife were built by the Emirate of Granada.
Burgos Cathedral		Burgos	Castile and León	13th to 16th centuries	316; 1984; ii, iv, vi	The Gothic-style cathedral was built between the 13th and 16th centuries. It is the burial place of Spanish national hero, El Cid.
Monastery and Site of the Escorial		San Lorenzo de El Escorial	Madrid	16th century	318; 1984; i, ii, vi	El Escorial was a residence of the royal family.
Works of Antoni Gaudí		Barcelona	Catalonia	19th and 20th centuries	320; 1984, 2005 (extended); i, ii, iv	The architecture of Antoni Gaudí is part of the Modernist style.
Santiago de Compostela (Old Town)		Santiago de Compostela	Galicia	10th and 11th centuries	347; 1985; i, ii, vi	The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is the reputed burial-place of the apostle James. The town was destroyed by Moors in the 10th century and later rebuilt.
Old Town of Ávila with its Extra-Muros Churches		Ávila	Castile and León	11th century	348; 1985, 2007 (modified); iii, iv	The defensive wall surrounding the original town was built in the 11th century.
Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon		Provinces of Teruel and Zaragoza	Aragon	12th to 17th centuries	378; 1986, 2001 (extended); iv	The churches in Teruel are a blending of traditional Islamic and contemporary European styles.
Historic City of Toledo		Toledo	Castile-La Mancha	8th to 16th centuries	379; 1986; i, ii, iii, iv	Toledo was founded by the Romans and was the capital of the Visigoths. It was important in Muslim Spain and during the Reconquista.
Garajonay National Park		La Gomera	Canary Islands	N/A	380; 1986; vii, ix	The park is 70% covered by laurel forest. This has disappeared from mainland Europe.
Old City of Salamanca		Salamanca	Castile and León	13th to 16th centuries	381; 1988; i, ii, iv	The University of Salamanca, founded in 1218, is the oldest in Spain. The city was conquered by the Carthaginians in the 3rd century, and later ruled by the Romans and Moors.
Cathedral, Alcázar and Archivo de Indias in Seville		Seville	Andalusia	13th to 16th centuries	383; 1987; i, ii, iii, iv	The Alcázar was built during the Almohad dynasty that ruled southern Spain until the Reconquista.
Old Town of Cáceres		Cáceres	Extremadura	3rd to 15th centuries	384; 1986; iii, iv	The old town combines Roman, Islamic, Northern Gothic, and Italian Renaissance architecture, with more than 30 Islamic towers.
Ibiza, Biodiversity and Culture		Ibiza	Balearic Islands	N/A	417; 1999; ii, iii, iv, ix, x	The coast of Ibiza has a sea grass only found in the Mediterranean. The island also has many Phoenician ruins.
Poblet Monastery		Vimbodí	Catalonia	12th and 13th centuries	518; 1991; i, iv	The monastery was founded by the Cistercians in 1151 and is one of the largest in Spain.
Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of Úbeda and Baeza		Province of Jaén	Andalusia	16th century	522; 2003; ii, iv	Among the first examples of the Renaissance style in Spain.
Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida		Mérida	Extremadura	1st to 5th centuries	664; 1993; iii, iv	Mérida was founded in 25 BC by the Romans as Emerita Augusta.
Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe		Guadalupe	Extremadura	13th to 16th centuries	665; 1993; iv, vi	The monastery is home of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a shrine to Mary.
Route of Santiago de Compostela		—	Aragon, Castile and León, Galicia, Navarre, and La Rioja	N/A	669; 1993; ii, iv, vi	The Route, or the Way of St. James, is a pilgrimage from the French-Spanish border to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.
Doñana National Park		Provinces of Huelva and Seville	Andalusia	N/A	685; 1994, 2005 (extended); vii, ix, x	The park has the delta region where the Guadalquivir River reaches the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the largest heronries in the Mediterranean with 500,000+ water fowl during the winter.
Pyrénées – Mont Perdu		—	Aragon (shared with France)	N/A	773; 1997, 1999 (extended); iii, iv, v, vii, viii	The site has the Pyrenees mountain chain along the French-Spanish border.
Historic Walled Town of Cuenca		Cuenca	Castile-La Mancha	12th to 18th centuries	781; 1996; ii, v	The Moors built the fortified city in the early 8th century.
La Lonja de la Seda de Valencia		Valencia	Valencia	15th and 16th centuries	782; 1996; i, iv	La Lonja de la Seda means Silk Exchange in English.
Las Médulas		Ponferrada	Castile and León	1st to 3rd centuries	803; 1997; i, ii, iii, iv	The Romans made a gold mine and worked the site for two centuries.
Palau de la Música Catalana and Hospital de Sant Pau, Barcelona		Barcelona	Catalonia	20th century	804; 1997; i, ii, iv	Both buildings were built in the early 20th century in the modernist Art Nouveau style.
San Millán Yuso and Suso Monasteries		San Millán de la Cogolla	La Rioja	6th to 16th centuries	805; 1997; ii, iv, vi	The original Suso monastery was founded in the mid-6th century. It has the first written examples of the Spanish and Basque languages.
Prehistoric Rock-Art Sites in the Côa Valley and Siega Verde		—	Castile and León (shared with Portugal)	Palaeolithic	866; 1998, 2010 (extended); i, iii	The Upper Palaeolithic rock art in the Côa Valley of Portugal, and the Siega Verde in Spain.
Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula		—	Andalusia, Aragon, Castile-La Mancha, Catalonia, Murcia, and Valencia	Prehistoric	874; 1998; iii	The site includes 750 examples of rock art with images of geometric shapes and scenes of men hunting animals.
Archaeological Ensemble of Tárraco		Tarragona	Catalonia	1st to 4th centuries	875; 2000; ii, iii	The prominent Roman city of Tárraco is at the site of modern-day Tarragona.
University and Historic Precinct of Alcalá de Henares		Alcalá de Henares	Madrid	16th century	876; 1998; ii, iv, vi	The University of Alcalá, 1499, is the first planned university city. It was a model for others. The city is the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes.
San Cristóbal de La Laguna		San Cristóbal de La Laguna	Canary Islands	16th to 18th centuries	929; 1999; ii, iv	The city was Spain's first non-fortified colonial town. Many buildings date to the 16th century.
Palmeral of Elche		Elche	Valencia	N/A	930; 2000; ii, v	The grove of date palm trees was laid out with irrigation systems by the Moors in the 10th century.
Roman Walls of Lugo		Lugo	Galicia	3rd century	987; 2000; iv	The Roman walls of Lucus are the best examples in Western Europe.
Catalan Romanesque Churches of the Vall de Boí		Vall de Boí	Catalonia	11th to 14th centuries	988; 2000; ii, iv	The small valley at the edge of the Pyrenees has churches in Romanesque style, unique for their tall, square bell towers.
Archaeological Site of Atapuerca		Atapuerca	Castile and León	Prehistoric	989; 2000; iii, v	The caves in the Atapuerca Mountains have fossil remains of the earliest human beings discovered in Europe dating from nearly one million years ago.
Aranjuez Cultural Landscape		Aranjuez	Madrid	15th to 19th centuries	1044; 2001; ii, iv	The area was the exclusive property of the royal family until the 19th century.
Vizcaya Bridge		Portugalete	Basque Country	19th century	1217; 2006; i, ii	The bridge, built in 1893, is the world's first transporter bridge.
Teide National Park		Tenerife	Canary Islands	N/A	1258; 2007; vii, viii	The park contains Mount Teide, a volcano and the highest elevation in Spain.
Tower of Hercules		A Coruña	Galicia	1st century	1312; 2009; iii	The Romans built this 55 metres (180 ft) lighthouse on a 57 metres (187 ft) rock at the entrance to the harbour. It is the only fully preserved and functioning Roman lighthouse.

Sites by autonomous community

This is the list of Heritage sites by autonomous community.

Community	Exclusive sites	Shared sites
Castile and León	6	2
Andalusia	5	2
Catalonia	5	1
Galicia	4	1
Canary Islands	3	—
Extremadura	3	—
Madrid	3	—
Castile-La Mancha	2	2
Valencia	2	1
Aragon	1	2
La Rioja	1	1
Asturias	1	—
Basque Country	1	—
Balearic Islands	2	—
Cantabria	1	—
Murcia	—	1
Navarre	—	1