ABSTRACT
Human heritage partly defines what they are as a society. Preservation of the natural and cultural heritage is part of sustainable development for future generations. Europe is very rich in cultural heritage, as is the case in Spain and is exemplified by Salamanca, which has a large list of important sites that need to be preserved, many of them built in stone. In Europe, there is a network made up of more than 400 active organisations in the field of cultural heritage as well as national branches such as Hispania Nostra. Spain is the third country in the world for the number of protected World Heritage Sites: 47. The Global Heritage Stone initiative was launched to encourage standard reporting of technical data on, and to improve recognition of, the most important heritage stones internationally; to promote their proper use in construction, maintenance and repair; and to stress the need to safeguard important stone resources for future use.
