Decision 45 COM 7B.176

Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg (Austria) (C 784)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/23/45.COM/7B.Add.2,
2. Recalling Decision 44 COM 7B.41 adopted at its extended 44th session (Fuzhou/online, 2021),
3. Acknowledges the efforts of the State Party to mitigate the negative impact of the ‘Schwarzstrasse 45/Ernest-Thun-Strasse’, the ‘Nelböck Viaduct Rainerstrasse/Bahnhofsvorplatz’, the ‘Paracelsus indoor swimming pool’, and the ‘Dr Franz-Rehrl Platz Residential Area (Residential Buildings City Life Rehrlplatz)’ projects on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property and its attributes during their implementation phase, but regrets that the impacts of these projects on the OUV of the property were not systematically assessed and a dialogue on the plans for these projects with the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies was not conducted early in the planning or concept phase, and that the possibility of mitigating their recognised adverse impacts was therefore limited;
4. Also acknowledges the submission of the design concept for the planned Salzburg Festival Building, welcomes the revised design of the project, which has abandoned the envisaged golden wall coating, and requests the State Party to submit its final design plans to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies before building rights are granted or implementation is undertaken;
5. Also welcomes the information that the original Priesterhausgarten housing project has been abandoned and that new planned projects will consider the outcomes and recommendation of the 2019 Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA), and also requests the State Party to submit the final design plans of the project to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies before building rights are granted, and only approve a project proposal for which HIAs, conducted in line with the Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context, do not identify a negative impact on the OUV of the property;
6. Notes the information on the status of the zoning and development plans, as well as the advisory framework developed to assess the potential impact of projects on the OUV of the property, and urges the State Party to implement its previous requests for the development of a comprehensive Urban Land Use Plan to further strengthen the protection of the setting of the property;
7. Further requests the State Party to further revise the Management Plan to ensure that:
   1. The Management Plan becomes a comprehensive tool to support the planning framework for planned and proposed projects within the property, its buffer zone and its wider setting,
   2. Adequate management mechanisms are in place to protect and preserve the OUV of the property and its attributes, in line with the 2011 Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape, including mechanisms to carry out impact assessments (including visual impact assessments and cumulative impact assessments) in conformity with the Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage context, developed in collaboration between the Advisory Bodies and the World Heritage Centre, for changes and projects that may have a negative impact on the OUV of the property;
8. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2024, 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 47th session.