The presentation of a candidate for addition to the World Heritage List is an act of capital importance for a small country like Andorra.

The limited extent of our territory might lead one to believe that it would be difficult for it to contain a cultural landscape of the first order and our situation as a geographical enclave might hinder the perception of its universal nature. But it is precisely these characteristics, plus peace which goes back centuries, which throughout history have enabled the patient distillation of an original cultural essence. Compared to cultural landscapes which are considerably larger than the surface area of our national territory, the Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley, which covers almost one tenth of Andorra, probably represents the small expression possible of a complete and perfectly readable cultural and historical evolution. As a cultural landscape on a human scale, its excellence is to be found in its mastery of the essentials and its solemnity is based on the magic of discretion. At one and the same time it is a synthesis and a symbol.