The new Special Plan for the Protection of the Historic Site of Puerto de la Cruz incorporates 136 buildings, 9 urban spaces and 3 ethnographic elements. This was detailed by David Hernández, councilor for the Sustainable City and Planning area, which is what the urban planning plot is called in the tourist city, when announcing yesterday the conclusion of this document that is now heading towards the final stretch for its final approval and entry in force.
The protection catalog of this Special Plan includes a total of 233 properties in the historic center of Porto. In 16 only its façade is protected and 7 correspond to properties declared an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC). There are also 43 ethnographic elements, including 38 crosses, as well as 19 spaces, 3 intangible assets and 16 species of monumental trees and singular flora, which include 476 specimens. The total number of protected elements in the catalog reaches the figure of 782.
The Special Plan for the Protection of the Historic Site of Puerto de la Cruz has been drawn up “with a participatory approach,” said David Hernández, who added that “it has included the gender perspective and the sustainability criteria, among others.”
Hernández highlights that citizen participation has been a “key” aspect in the preparation process. “Several public consultation sessions were held, in which the residents of the port were invited to participate in workshops, walks, interviews and discussion forums that helped define the protection and conservation measures for the historical heritage of the Port of the cross. In addition, an open communication channel was established to receive suggestions and comments throughout the process,” explained the mayor.
This significant increase in the number of properties is largely due to the recognition of all those earthen-type buildings that make up the essential construction model of the popular classes for a good part of the history of the urban area of Puerto de la Cruz, located mainly in the La Ranilla neighborhood.
In accordance with the Law of Cultural Heritage of Canary Islandsthe Government of Puerto de la Cruz expands the Protection Catalog «after an exhaustive process of motivating the values to be preserved in each asset that can be cataloged based on its intrinsic values, referring to the inherent characteristics of each cultural asset, and their patrimonial values, which evaluate the influence they have on the sociocultural and environmental environment, without their state of conservation being an obstacle for them to be catalogued, as determined by the aforementioned Law”, the councilor of the urban area qualifies.
Apart from material goods, the Plan includes an immaterial catalog with three traditions that take place in the historic center of Puerto de la Cruz: the Ship of the Virgen del Carmen, Mataculebra and El Baño de las Cabras. Likewise, the catalog of singular trees or flora incorporates 472 new specimens, which are added to the 4 specimens included in the Catalog of Monumental Trees and Groves and of the Flora of Tenerife of the Council of Tenerife. On the other hand, 3 properties are discontinued due to the absence or loss of heritage values.
