Thank you Mr Chair.

On behalf of Confraria do Bom Jesus do Monte in Braga, I want to thank the members of the World Heritage Committee for the Inscription of the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus in the World Heritage List of UNESCO as well as the collaboration of the World Heritage Center.

 We thank ICOMOS for the recommendations provided – Confraria do Bom Jesus will take them in full consideration.

And we also thank those who have participated in the preparation of the nomination and I remember all the generations before us that have built and cared for the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus.

We are proud and happy for adding the Sanctuary to the List. It is an architectural and landscape ensemble rebuilt and enhanced through a period of over six hundred years, reaching a unique formal and symbolic complexity and a monumental character with no precedents in the context of European sacred mounts.

This is the end of a 20 years long period of conservation and rehabilitation of the sanctuary. A new chapter starts today in the life of the sanctuary. 

It is our intention to be a promotor of the World Heritage Convention and deepen our cooperation with other World Heritage Sites seeking best practices for heritage conservation, management, use and communication.

We look forward to have you in Bom Jesus do Monte and the very old city of Braga. Thank you very much.