Madrid is now on the World Heritage List. In 2019, Spain submitted its candidacy for the Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro Park, Landscape of Arts and Sciences, to UNESCO for inclusion on the World Heritage List, and its proposal was successfully approved in 2021. This area constitutes an extraordinary urban landscape where culture and nature have come together from the mid-16th century to the present day, giving it the status of Outstanding Universal Value.
The UNESCO World Heritage List lists sites of outstanding universal value. This list was established in 1972 by the World Cultural and Natural Heritage Convention with the aim of protecting heritage considered important for all humanity and worthy of preservation for present and future generations.
The Madrid City Council, in collaboration with the Community of Madrid and with the support of the Ministry of Culture, has promoted Madrid's candidacy for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The nomination includes the Paseo del Prado and the Retiro Park, along with their surrounding areas, and is proposed for inclusion on this list as a Cultural Landscape, a landscape shaped by man throughout history with exceptional value:
It is the first tree-lined promenade within a European capital, created in the 16th century to offer the inhabitants of Madrid a space conducive to leisure and relaxation in a wooded environment.
It also constitutes a model of urban planning that combines nature and science as a driving force for the transformation of society. During the Enlightenment, this same spatial area constituted an exceptional urban landmark, thanks to the development of the Paseo del Prado as the headquarters of a series of institutions (the Cabinet of Natural History, the Royal Botanical Garden, and the Royal Observatory of Madrid) to foster scientific research and disseminate this knowledge to society as a whole. This model spread to most cities in Spain and throughout Latin America.