Tourism is one of the main productive activities of the Spanish economy. However, we have not been able to foresee and mitigate the impacts that massive and poorly managed tourism can produce in sensitive heritage environments. The reality of this conflict between architectural heritage and cultural tourism is more visible the more extensive the historical city is and the wider the group of protected assets, as in Córdoba (Spain). Added to this situation is another internal conflict of the Public Administrations: the clash between their competences in matters of heritage protection and their interests in the management of their own inventory of assets. And, of this public management of the goods that must be safeguarded, there is often another conflict arising from the establishment of functional programs for architectural heritage incompatible with their cultural significance. This issue requires a reflection on the review of international declarations and documents on cultural heritage and its relationship with tourism. To effectively combat the posible impacts on our architectural heritage, the application of an adequate work methodology is essential. We present here the one that is being developed in the case of the Pósito de la Corredera, Córdoba, based on its deep prior knowledge, in the attribution of heritage values and in the establishment of a functional program compatible with them.