What does «patrimonio nacional» mean in Spanish?
- The set of goods and elements at the disposal of a state. It is the stock of wealth or accumulated reserves of a national economy. In addition to monetary reserves and other financial assets, national patrimony also encompasses a nation's non-monetary wealth or reserves, such as its national monuments, cuisine, and artistic heritage. National heritage more strongly reflects a nation's assets (physical, intellectual, monetary, etc.) than a spirit of cultural unity, although the assets themselves may indeed embody or contribute to that unifying spirit.
- (Patrimonio Nacional) It is a Spanish agency, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Presidency, which administers the sites owned by the Spanish State and used by the Spanish Monarch and Royal Family as residences and for State Ceremonies. The National Heritage includes palaces, gardens, monasteries and convents, called Royal sites. When not in official use, the Royal sites are open to the public. It also manages the residences of Spain's Prime Minister. The agency was first created in 1865 during the reign of Isabel II under the name Patrimonio de la Corona. During the reign of her grandson, Alfonso XIII, it was known as Patrimonio Real. The second republic (1931-1939) maintained the agency under the name Patrimonio de la República and in 1940, the dictator Francisco Franco renamed it Patrimonio Nacional, the current name. Patrimonio Nacional organizes temporary exhibitions and concerts at royal sites. It also publishes catalogs of the Royal Collections, books on the Royal sites, facsimiles of some of the books kept in the library of El Escorial and the Royal Library, visitors' guides to the different sites as well as the official photographs of the King of Spain. It also publishes a quarterly magazine, Reales Sitios, on the art collections and cultural history of the royal sites.