The diversity of its Foundation’s Board of Trustees and the ability to involve various institutions in the project have been key to obtaining the highest award.

The comprehensive process has earned this Abendua the Special Jury Prize at the Iberian Heritage Awards held in Sintra, among the eighteen finalist projects distributed across Portugal and Spain and selected from the dozens of applications submitted. This distinction is awarded to the initiative that has stood out over the past two years for its social importance and its contribution to the effective valorization of Cultural Heritage in the Iberian Peninsula.

The International Jury awarded the Special Prize to Punta Begoña in consideration of:

• The innovation applied to a local project that has managed to position itself beyond the municipality.
• The work carried out around memory, which has succeeded in involving the population in a previously disparaged place.
• The steps of research, design, and intervention for its progressive physical recovery.
• The capacity to revitalize it and integrate the community in the hundreds of activities carried out throughout the year.
• The ability to involve different institutions around a recent 20th-century monument, a priori more difficult to recognize as a monument and appreciate its uniqueness.

“We wanted to award the Iberian Heritage Prize 2025 to a comprehensive project, significant in all categories, that promotes the participation of communities, particularly young people, future guardians of our heritage, and that generates economic impact in the region, integrating innovation and new technologies to offer a unique experience to those who visit the monument,”

Margarida Alçada, President of the Jury and former Director of the Directorate-General for Buildings and National Monuments of Portugal.