And I thought the U.S. was litigious!

[Deleted member 3000]

Supreme court allows the redrawing of the Camino de Santiago
SOURCE: RADIO JACA

The fourth section of the Contentious Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal brought by the City of Artieda, in calling the failure to amend the route of the Camino de Santiago, during the construction of regrowth Yesa, to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In its judgment notes that the general interest prevails over the rich heritage of the Camino de Santiago.

The city of Rio association Artieda and Aragon had filed an appeal, asking that the failure to amend the route of the Camino de Santiago, which UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site, as the increase of Yesa flooded part of this path.

In its judgment, the Supreme Court recognizes the cultural and heritage, the route of the Camino de Santiago who once declared UNESCO World Heritage Site, but nevertheless "a timely and little movement that does not distort the perception of its unique full historical and cultural significance, is covered by the need to attend to other more general interests of remarkable intensity "

Consequently, the Court finds that there will be relocated, monuments that are of cultural interest, as the shrine of St. James Ruesta, the hermitage of San Juan Bautista Ruesta or Ruesta chapel of St. James, and authorizes the redrawing of the Road Santiago.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

This case cannot be compared to the frivolous lottery that US courts sometimes appear to be.

This is a long, hard battle for a stretch of old camino that includes several historic villages. A planned expansion of a huge reservoir will flood the hillsides where they stand and erase them from the map. It´s not just lines on a map they are fighting for - it´s their villages, their homes and businesses and family history. A large part of the Yesa valley is already flooded. The big-business and big-government people behind the hydro project have shown little regard for citizen concerns, and the fact that the Camino Aragonese is directly affected by the planned flooding was one of the objections the locals felt was most strongly supported by international cultural designations (UNESCO World Heritage, Camino de Santiago, etc.)

Looks like the courts feel the need for a reservoir outweighs them. The Camino will be re-routed.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

It is good to know that the suit was about more than who gets to sell cups of coffee. When I walked the Aragones, it looked like the reservoir was never going to be high enough to cover the evacuated areas. The reservoir at Portomarin has been a river for a few years; the yacht club has even closed. The whole town was abandoned, and the church moved to the top of the hill. Now all the ruins are visible. "Progress" does not seem to be progress there. Artieda may be the same.

 

[oursonpolaire]

Several pueblos on the north side have been closed down and deserted, most notably Tiermas, now mainly a place where atmospheric photographers work. Any significant rise in the waters will destroy the roman thermal springs near there at km 366, which would be a pity. This is part of a 15-year resistance to the end of a region to satisfy the poor planning of a cental authority (a very short and one-sided encapsulation of a situation which takes about a volume to explore).

 

[Deleted member 3000]

More information:

camino-aragones/topic16761.html