MADRID, April 13 (Xinhua) -- The famous Paseo del Prado and the Retiro Park in Madrid are the Spanish candidates for 2018 to seek UNESCO World Heritage site status, the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport said on Friday.
The Retiro is a green space of around 125 hectares in the center of the Spanish capital which contains over 15,000 trees, (among which are 167 different species) and is a traditional place for the capital's inhabitants to take weekend walk. Originally a royal park on the outskirts of Madrid, it became the property of the Madrid Town Hall in 1868.
Meanwhile, the nearby Paseo del Prado is a boulevard around a kilometer long which links Madrid's main art galleries, including the Reina Sofia and the Thyssen -Bornemisza Museum.
"We wanted to represent Spain with a cultural-urban site: an area designed for people to enjoy science, art and nature," Luis Lafuente, general director of Fine Arts and Cultural Patrimony.
The Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport said in a communique that the main motive to support the candidacy was "the confluence between the fact it is the first public space in the center of a city designed to be green and recreational areas as well as promoting arts and sciences."
The candidacy of the two sites will be officially presented by Spain to UNESCO in February 2019.
