Spain already has 50 records on the UNESCO World Heritage list. With the recent acceptance of Talayotic Menorcamade official at the 45th meeting of the Committee, has approved the inclusion of these typically Menorcan archaeological sites.
It is, as we say, the 50th cultural asset that UNESCO recognizes in our country and that also represents the third reference of the Balearic Islands within UNESCO, after ‘Ibiza, biodiversity and culture’, which was approved in 1999, and ‘Cultural landscape of the Serra de Tramuntana’, admitted in 2011 and which put the island of Mallorca on the UNESCO map. Curiously, it was approved on the same day that Spain’s only candidacy for the next World Heritage Site was launched.
Although it seemed evident since last May, the truth is that the Minorcan candidacy has not been validated until today. It was in May when the International Committee on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) of Unesco issued a favorable report to the Balearic proposal.
Although it is not a guarantee of approval, it is true that when this endorsement is obtained, the candidates that achieve it end up having the approval of this body, belonging to the United Nations.
In this case, the ascription of Talayotic Menorca It constitutes a new cultural asset within the UNESCO World Heritage Site, distributed throughout the island and representing the prehistoric and pre-Roman past of the island.
What is Talayotic Menorca?
The talayots (or talaiots) are stone structures, some of which date back more than 3,000 years, built on the island of Menorca and, in smaller numbers, on neighboring Mallorca. They are made up of huge cyclopean stones arranged in the form of towers or circular structures. Although it has never been clear what their use was, historians believe that they could have had different uses including defense, housing, storage and religious rituals.
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However, it is the religious options that have always had the most resonance, understanding the talaiots as altars or places of offering. Also as homes or as watchtowers, which is the use that traditionally made the most sense. Some, in fact, were also burials, such as that of the Naveta des Tudons and is particularly famous for its inverted ship shape.
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