The World Heritage Committee,
1. Having examined Documents WHC-12/36.COM/8B and WHC-12/36.COM/INF.8B1,
2. Defers the examination of the proposed extension of Kiev: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, to include St. Cyril’s and St. Andrew’s Churches, Ukraine, to the World Heritage List, in order to allow the State Party, with the advice of ICOMOS and the World Heritage Centre, if requested, to:
a) Clarify the situation with regard to Saint Cyril’s Church boundaries,
b) Consider creating a buffer zone northeast of Saint Andrew’s Church, on the hillside below the building,
c) Confirm that the right of ownership of the extended property was transferred to the Ministry of Culture in 2011,
d) Confirm that the ministerial responsibility over the body in charge of the extended property, the Saint Sophia Conservation Area, was transferred to the Ministry of Culture in 2011,
e) Clearly indicate the legal protection in place and the management system responsible for its application, and include the conservation schedule,
f) Put an end to the absence of control over construction work in the buffer zone, guarantee under the new draft Law on Town Planning Regulations that all new projects in the buffer zone will be examined by the Ministry of Culture, which will have a suspensive power in the event of a threat to the environmental and landscape values of the property’s sites,
g) Implement a unified Management Plan for the properties, buffer zones, and landscape protection of the Orthodox Metropolate of Kiev,
h) Stop the project to rebuild a bell tower at Saint Cyril’s Church,
i) Implement forthwith a moratorium on the restructuring of Andreevsky Spusk street, alongside Saint Andrew’s Church, in order to manage better the visual impacts on the site;
3. Considers that any revised nomination should be examined by a mission to the site;
4. Recommends the State Party give consideration to the following:
a) Continuing the research and monitoring efforts for the unstable subsoil at both churches,
b) Confirming the possibility for rapid intervention of emergency services in the event of a fire at Saint Cyril’s Church,
c) Settling the issue of the abundant use of tapers and candles that are blackening and damaging the already fragile painted and decorative schemes,
d) Regulating automobile traffic and parking within the perimeter of Saint Andrew’s Church,
e) Improving tourist facilities outside these two churches, especially Saint Andrew’s, where the environmental quality of the church is threatened (booths, parking, etc.),
f) Ensuring the property’s overarching authority, the Saint Sophia National Protection Area, involves the other parties in the property’s management, notably the Orthodox Churches and the municipality of Kiev, as well as the local population.