Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley
The cultural landscape of Madriu-Perafita-Claror
Valley offers a microcosmic perspective of the way people have harvested
the resources of the high Pyrenees over millennia. Its dramatic glacial
landscapes of craggy cliffs and glaciers, with high open pastures and
steep wooded valleys, covers an area of 4,247 ha, 9% of the total area
of the principality. It reflects past changes in climate, economic
fortune and social systems, as well as the persistence of pastoralism
and a strong mountain culture, notably the survival of a communal
land-ownership system dating back to the 13th century. The site features
houses, notably summer settlements, terraced fields, stone tracks and
evidence of iron smelting.