A presentation on the unique features, poor condition, recovery and protection, and need of assistance from European institutions in the aforementioned recovery and protection of Portuguese built patrimony.

1. The protection of European built patrimony, the tangible
memory of Europe, is a duty of governments, cultural
authorities and of owners, hence, ensuring that our citizens may
exercise the right to a vivid learning of their history and to the enjoyment
of its beauty.

2. Portuguese built patrimony
is an exceptional part of European cultural
heritage as our architecture displays
the
intimate vision of life that is
unique to our people .

3. This is evident in the harmonic proportions and in the human scale
of Portuguese houses

4. It is also clearly present in the serenity of our gardens, (greatly enhanced
during the XVI century with the incorporation in their design of mogul India’s water reflections),
like we see in these images of Quinta da Bacalhoa e Torres.

5. And is also present in monumental
architecture, like for instance the
representation of the Holy
Trinity by triple entwined pillars
supporting the Church of the
Convent of Jesus in Setubal.

6. The Provedoria das Obras Reais a the XVI century
institution put in charge of all the crown buildings developed
an urban designing method that gave an
undeniable national character to the seaports
built by the Portuguese around the world.
Lisboa, Setúbal, Salvador da Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, Luanda.

7. And at the same time a blueprint
for the construction of noble
houses that kept their
harmonic beauty intact until
the end of the XVIII century in
Portugal and after that in Brazil and
Portuguese India

8. Unfortunately, apart from a few monuments, churches and houses, the
general condition of the Portuguese patrimony is very bad

9. Unfortunately, apart from a few monuments, churches and
houses, the general condition of the Portuguese patrimony is
very bad

10. Unfortunately, apart from a few monuments, churches and houses, the
general condition of the Portuguese patrimony is very

11. There are, we believe, thousands of houses in a derelict state,
including whole historic centers

12. There are, we believe, thousands of houses in a derelict state,

14. There are, we believe, thousands of houses in a derelict state,

15. There are, we believe, thousands of houses in a derelict state,

16. On top of that, many
of the surviving buildings had their beauty and
elegance disfigured by new unbecoming constructions that were allowed to
grow due to improper protection of the surrounding areas.

17. Many others have
simply been pulled
down and replaced

18. - Portugal classification is a too complex process centralized in an
improperly staffed institute
- The 760 pending classification requests some for more than 20
years, would normally take about 8 years to be finalized.
- This problem is not recognized by the government and tends
therefore to get worse.
- It was announced that the requests left undecided by the 31st
December 2012, will simply be archived, leaving more than 600
buildings unreasonably unprotected.

19. view of culture is underlined by the Prime Minister who
This austere
says that “ the value of culture cannot be measured by the size of
funds allocated in the Government Budget” . No doubt thank God!

20. To put the problem in perspective the Netherlands, being half the
size of Portugal has 30 times more classified buildings and sites.
Classified Buildings and Sites -Netherlands vs Portugal
April 2012
120.000
Total number of classified buildings
100.000
Number of Classified Buildings
Municipal monuments
80.000
Provincial monuments
60.000 Protected town and village
conservation areas
Buildings of public interest
40.000
Listed buildings (national monuments)
incuding country estates
20.000
Archeological sites protected through
planning procedures
0 Legally protected Archaeological sites
Netherlands Portugal
Sources: European Heritage Network; IGESPAR

21. - To quantify the problem and find possible solutions, we need
urgently a full inventory of classifiable buildings to avoid further
irreparable damage done to this imperiled patrimony.
- Our association identified 2600 houses that ought to be
classified, and estimates that the full inventory of classifiable
houses, would count about 15000 others.
- A rough estimation tells us that the present cost of recovering the
17000 houses would be around €2.400 million and create 53.000
jobs.
- Knowing how successful Netherlands was in developing cultural
tourism using its well preserved patrimony, we tried to estimate
the impact in Portugal if those classifiable houses were recovered
and put to use to develop a Dutch-like cultural tourism activity.

22. Applying to Portugal the Dutch ratios for nights spent by foreign cultural tourists and its
impact on the balance of payments, we estimate that by implementing, seriously, a
cultural tourism activity Portugal could generate an extra 3.3 million
nights spent by inbound tourists and benefit from an increase in
tourism income of roughly €1,200 million.
Potential of Cultural Tourism in Portugal
4.000
3.500
3.000
2.500
2.000
1.500 Potential
1.000 Actual
500
0
Thousand Nights Million Euros
Cultural tourists (Nights spent) Expenditure (Credit side Balance of
Payments)
Sources: Eurostat;European Heritage Network; APCA

23. And as mentioned before an overall increase of about 98.000 new
jobs:
- 45.000 in direct tourism activities;
- 53.000 in construction related activities;
Job creation's estimation
120.000
100.000
80.000
Nr of Jobs
60.000
Tourism employment (Annual)
Recovery works
40.000
20.000
0
Total employemnt
Sources: Eurostat; APCA

24. We can therefore conclude that the recovery and protection of Portuguese
built patrimony is not only of paramount importance for the
enhancement of European cultural heritage, but is also an activity
that can seriously contribute to the improvement of the Portuguese
economic situation.

25. Yet, given the lack of financial resources available at this time in Portugal,
the rescue of this unique patrimony can only be achieved
with financial support from European institutions and the
active involvement of Portuguese central and local
Governments, to improve civil services' efficiency and to encourage private
owners to classify and preserve their patrimony.
As an example of local authorities support I wish to praise
devotion dedicated by the Setubal Municipality to the
recovery of its Historical Center. It may in time turn a
derelict and nearly empty medieval town into delightful
living quarters for a young new population, keeping its
ancestral charm intact.

26. We suggest that the required financial support should consist of a
combination of three alternatives:
1. The access by owners of private houses to ERDF funds deployed in
Portugal through QREN (the Portuguese acronym for National
Strategic Reference Framework),
2. An increase in the weight given to built patrimony’s requirements on
the various programs coordinated by the Commission for Education
Culture, giving precedence in the allocation of funds to the needs of
countries with the largest unrepaired classified patrimony;
3. Granting long term loans, like the JESSICA initiative, to finance
projects that can generate income and be self sustainable in the long
run.
4. These funds should be run by a committee composed by government
and private owners’ representatives operating along guide lines

27. To encourage private owners to classify their houses
and open them to the public, we propose that the
Government considers:
1. Allowing the owners of such houses to deduct the
costs of maintenance and repairs in their income
tax filings,
2. Accept the adoption of a reduced VAT rate on the
purchase of materials and services needed to
maintain those houses.

28. I realize of course that what we are proposing will not be very
popular with our government who is trying hard to get the fiscal
balance under control.
Yet, the initial loss of tax income will be amply compensated by VAT
charged on the subsequent growth of economic activity and by
Private Income Tax on new jobs’ and Corporate Tax on new
businesses.
These are anyway urgently needed steps to avoid further irreparable damage done to this
important part of European cultural heritage, which have the added merit of contributing, in a self
sustaining way, to our country’s economic growth and employment.

29. I hope to count with the support of Europa Nostra to help us
voice these matters through to the decision makers at the
European Commission and the Council of Europe Cultural
Heritage.