Comprehensive and sustained management of Cultural Heritage has highlighted the need and importance of research in this field. Not only is this reflected in the recovery programmes which seek to maintain, use and preserve historical legacy, but it is also considered as a line of research of high priority by those responsible for science policies. Andalusia, for example, among the seventeen Sectorial Development Areas established in 2007 for the Andalusian Plan of Research, Development and Innovation (PAIDI), currently in effect, decided that one of their priorities was "Protection of Historical and Cultural Heritage".

In this context, a project which has a clear interdisciplinary character is proposed. Based on a university team research consolidated in room acoustics and specialized in acoustics of places of worship, two other researchers from the Institute of Cultural Heritage of Spain (IPCE), under the Ministry of Culture have been incorporated, one of whom is responsible for the National Plan of Cathedrals, and the other responsible for the National Plan of Intangible Heritage.

The project aims, as a starting point, to characterize the acoustic behaviour of the main cathedrals of Andalusia (Cadiz, Cordoba, Granada, Jaen, Malaga and Seville) which involves the description of their sound fields using the spatial-temporal distribution of sound energy obtained by recording multidimensional impulse responses in their interiors. From this data the possibility of implementing an analytical model capable of describing the sound field will be sought. In all cases a complete dossier with the main acoustic parameters and descriptors of each cathedral and of their representative subspaces will be generated.

This scientific knowledge is an innovative contribution to the heritage character of these buildings, and adds a new and original form of identification through the incorporation of an acoustic assessment versus the traditional aesthetic/functional view of these cathedral spaces, known as Intangible Heritage. No similar study has been carried out to date in Spain, nor to any similar extent in the European Union. Behaviour will be of great interest when conducting a historical investigation on the emergence and evolution of architectural elements that have conditioned the acoustics of the enclosure (choir, pulpit, organ, ...) and the various events, and ephemeral productions that have resulted, which have been performed mainly inside with different acoustic demands (speech, music) throughout its history: coronations, weddings, deaths, synods, magna concerts, etc. In the context of Intangible Cultural Heritage, the project is related with the Atalaya (Watchtower) Project, lead by the Baroque Orchestra of Seville and sponsored by the Government of Andalusia and the public Andalusian universities. This project seeks the recovery of the musical heritage in Andalusia associated with its cathedrals. In fact, the Baroque Orchestra of Seville is one of the main organizations supporting the project (EPOs), as well as the councils of the cathedrals that constitute the sample studied, the regional Council of Culture of the Junta de Andalucía and the Ministry of Culture.

This project also intends to create a computer model of each cathedral in order to enable the simulation of the acoustic field, the comparison of results and the implementation of auralization systems. With this model, it is also possible to generate the acoustic impact of possible interventions on the enclosure before taking any physical action in these spaces rich in heritage. Furthermore, this ability to intervene in these places of worship in a virtual way will enable the recreation of the acoustic environment of ancient times as well as the creation of analyses of the evolution and acoustic transformation throughout their history.

With the methodology implemented it will be possible to suggest some instruments of acoustic intervention in these spaces, permanent or ephemeral, which are not considered as strategies, but as guidelines, relationships, and forms of intervention.