Decision 42 COM 7B.2

Historic Ensemble of the Potala Palace, Lhasa (China) (C 707ter)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/18/42.COM/7B.Add,
2. Recalling Decision 40 COM 7B.31, adopted at its 40th session (Istanbul/UNESCO, 2016),
3. Expresses its regret at the fire of February 2018, and notes the work carried out by the State Party in the immediate aftermath of the fire;
4. Requests the State Party to provide to the World Heritage Centre, for review by the Advisory Bodies, more detailed reports of all the damage caused by the aforementioned fire, including images, drawings and other graphic illustrations and paying particular attention to the Golden Ceiling, as more detailed damage assessments are being carried out and restoration plans developed;
5. Takes note of the completion of the three conservation plans for the component parts of the property, which are awaiting final approval, and requests that they be submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies as soon as possible, along with the maps to clarify the buffer zones, in line with the procedures defined in the Operational Guidelines;
6. Also takes note of the efforts of the State Party to valorize traditional knowledge systems, improve visitor experience for pilgrims and tourists, improve monitoring and maintenance systems, and launch studies to analyse spatial relationships between the component parts of the property and cultural environment management planning;
7. Acknowledges the study to be launched on the potential impacts of the proposed television tower on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, and also requests that the study be undertaken in accordance with the 2011 ICOMOS Guidance on Heritage Impact Assessment for Cultural World Heritage properties and submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies, as soon as it is completed and before any work begins;
8. Further requests the State Party to invite a joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS/ICCROM Reactive Monitoring mission to the property to assess the damage caused by the fire and the proposed restoration works to be undertaken, as well as to examine other aspects of the state of conservation of the property;
9. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2019, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 44th session in 2020.