Heritage and cultural landscapes of water in the Ricote Valley (Murcia)

Abstract

The Ricote Valley is a complex landscape structured by the fluvial course of the Segura River whose evolution through more than two millennia has preserved several cultural witnesses, and which should therefore be preserved by a Special Plan of Water Landscape. This would diversely affect the eight municipalities that make up the area, also known as the Morisco Valley, because it was one of the last strongholds of this ethnic minority in the Iberian Peninsula until the Modern Age. The aim of this work is to release new data about this territory whose cultural and landscape values are linked to its orography, administration and history, and to several built elements, structures, hydraulic systems, wetlands and forms of traditional management that have been neglected hitherto although they are key to recognise the historical continuity of agriculture and traditional irrigation. This is the case of the role that the Military Order of Santiago played in the area evolution and water governance, which have evolved to survive today and are scarcely known among citizens and pubic administrations though being essential to understand and protect this landscape. Our main goal is to disseminate the results of the R + D + I Project of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness Analysis of the impact of urban regeneration strategies on the conservation of the cultural heritage of historic industrial areas, developed by the authors since 2016. These results are a fundamental basis to understand some cultural properties, many of which are still functional, that constitute a living Agrarian Heritage which has survived and adapted to new lords, better uses, distributions and transformations and that deserves protection as one of the most important landmarks of the East Iberian Peninsula.