Direção-Geral do Património Cultural
The Direção-Geral do Património Cultural (DGPC) ("Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage"), formerly the "Instituto de Gestão do Património Arquitectónico e Arqueológico (IGESPAR)" ("Institute for the Management of Architectural and Archaeological Heritage") and "Instituto Português do Património Arquitetónico (IPPAR" ("Portuguese Institute for Architectural Heritage"), is a general directorate of the Government of Portugal tasked with the conservation, preservation, and inventory of Portuguese architectural heritage. This includes buildings and sites of historical, architectural, scientific or artistic value. The institute keeps a registry of all the classified sites and issues legally binding opinions regarding any works on  them. History. It was established after the initiatives of PRACE (which was a central administrative restructuring programme) and implemented by the Council of Ministers (Resolution No. 124, dated 4 August 2005), as decree 96/2007 (29 March 2007). IGESPAR resulted from a fusion of the "Instituto Português do Património Arquitetónico (IPPAR)" and the "Instituto Português de Arqueologia (IPA)", while integrating many of the functions of the "Direcção Geral dos Edifícios e Monumentos Nacionais (DGMEN)" which had been active in the conservation and rehabilitation of the country's architectural treasures. Ministerial Order no.376 (20 March 2007) established its internal structure and statutes , while the Ministry of Culture's organic law established regional directorates (except in the Azores and Madeira, where cultural preservation programs were established under their respective Regional Secretaries). Archival material, that until then were held by the DGMEN, were transferred to "Instituto de Habitação e Reabilitação Urbana" ("Institute for Housing and Urban Rehabilitation") of the "Ministério do Ambiente" ("Ministry of the Environment"), the department of "Ordenamento do Território e do Desenvolvimento Regional" ("Spatial Planning and Regional Development"), under the auspices of the "SIPA - Sistema de Informação para o Património" ("Heritage Information System") on 30 May 2007. IGESPAR inherited the institutions  and preceded the "Biblioteca Geral (BG)" ("General Library") and "Biblioteca de Arqueologia (BA)" ("Archaeological Library", which provided information on architectural and archaeological patrimony that was catalogued and available at physical locations and online. Until 2010, over 3000 properties within the territory were inventoried and classified by the institution, in addition 13 have been promoted to UNESCO World Heritage sites, 2000 to "Imóveis de Interesse Público" ("Properties of Public Interest"), 800 to status of "Monumento Nacional" ("National Monuments") and 450 classified as municipal sites of public interest. In 2012, following the promulgation of a decree, the "Direção–Geral do Patrimônio Cultural  (DGCP)" was instituted, through the fusing of the IGESPAR, the "Instituto dos Museus e Conservação (IMC IP)" ("Institute of Museums and Conservation") and "Direção Regional de Cultura de Lisboa o Vale do Tejo (DRCLVT)" ("Lisboa e Vale do Tejo Regional Directorate of Culture"). Structure. DGPC is a Directorate-General, under the auspices of the "Ministério da Cultura" ("Ministry of Culture"), with responsibilities for the architectural and archaeological heritage. Its internal structure is laid out in Ministerial Order no.376, dating to 20 March 2007, whereupon the organization is divided into five individual services: At the same time, it is also responsible  for managing the operations of several of the nation's more importance architectural sites, including: the Convent of Christ in Tomar, the Monastery of Batalha in Batalha, the Monastery of Alcobaça, the Jeronimos Monastery and Tower of Belém in Santa Maria de Belém, the National Pantheon in the Church of Santa Engrácia, the Monastery of Santa Cruz in Coimbra and the Archeological Park of the Côa Valley. With extinction of IGESPAR and IMC, on 29 December 2011, the DGPC began to assume the competencies and attributes of the two extinguished organs, namely: