Tradition and Legacy on El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro
A recording of this webinar can be found here.
This webinar took place July 25, 2024, 12 – 1 pm ET
El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (The Royal Inland Road) was a trade route extending 1,600 miles from present-day Mexico City, Mexico, to Ohkay Owingeh (formerly San Juan Pueblo), New Mexico in the United States. It was the northernmost of the four major “royal roads” linking Mexico City to its major tributaries during the Spanish colonial era and remained in use for nearly three centuries. Not only was the Camino essential for communication, but it was also the main thoroughfare for the transportation of silver, earning it the nickname, the “Silver Route.”
In 2010, 55 sites and five existing UNESCO World Heritage Sites along Mexico’s section of el Camino Real de Tierra Adentro were collectively added to the World Heritage List. On the U.S. side, the 404 mile section of the route stretching through Texas and New Mexico was proclaimed the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail in 2000 and became part of the National Historic Trail system. Today, there is growing interest in inscribing the U.S. section of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro along with the Mexican sites already included on the World Heritage Site.
We invite you to join Dr. Francisco Javier López Morales, Former Director of World Heritage at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) of Mexico; Michael Romero Taylor, Senior Advisor of the U.S. / Mexico Binational Nominations Initiative; and Gilbert Correra, Coordinator of the U.S. / Mexico Binational Nominations Initiative, to learn about the history of the trail and its significance to both the U.S. and Mexico, as well as the challenges faced by those advocating for the inscription of the U.S. section of the trail.
Our Speakers
Francisco Javier López Morales, Ph.D., Former Director of World Heritage at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) of Mexico
Dr. Francisco Javier López Morales is the former Director of World Heritage Sites at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). He has spent more than 20 years working to preserve and maintain many of Mexico’s most important cultural heritage. His efforts to propose the Camino Real de las Californias as a binational World Heritage Site has led him to work collaboratively with INAH and the University of California. Dr. López Morales has served on the ICOMOS Executive Committee since 1991 and is a specialist consultant for the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. Dr. López Morales has degrees in urban studies from the Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA) in Grenoble, France, the National School of Conservation, Restoration and Museography (ENCRyM) and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City, Mexico.
Michael Romero Taylor, Senior Advisor of the U.S. / Mexico Binational Nominations Initiative
Michael Romero Taylor has been working for the last forty years in historic preservation. His experience includes historic site management, architectural conservation, management of cultural routes, museum/visitor center management and archaeological site preservation. In the United States, he served as the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Officer in 1994-95, and was the Deputy Director of New Mexico State Monuments from 1995 to 2001. Mr. Taylor earned a Masters certificate from the Architectural Conservation Course through ICCROM in Rome, Italy 1987, and has been active with the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) for the past thirty five years. In 2010 he was selected as a visiting scholar to the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles. He retired in 2019 from National Park Service working as a cultural resource specialist for nine congressionally designated historic trails in the United States. Mr. Taylor’s research interests include international approaches to preservation, protection and management of cultural routes.
Gilbert Correra, M.A., Coordinator of the U.S. / Mexico Binational Nominations Initiative
Master Gilbert C. Correa is an astute museum and cultural heritage professional with over 10 years of combined national as well as international experience, education, and training in the culture, education, and nonprofit industries. He works for World Heritage USA as a Program Assistant for the Monuments Toolkit Project and provides consulting services to cultural institutions. Gilbert’s consulting services include strategic planning, accreditation, assessments, evaluations, marketing, disaster risk reduction and management, cultural heritage preservation, grant writing, best technology implementation, and more. Prior to working for World Heritage USA, he worked for the Ibero-American General Secretariat Subregional Office for Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean in Mexico City, Mexico, in the capacity of Assistant Coordinator of Programs, Initiatives, and Designated Projects. Master Correa graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Anthropology with a concentration in Cultural Resource Management from the California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, California, in June 2017. He obtained his Masters degree in Museology and Museum Administration from the Ibero-American Institute of Museology in Pontevedra, Spain, in June 2022.
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