State of Conservation (SOC)

Requests Approved: 0 (from1999-1999)
Total Amount Ap proved: 15,000USD

Urban Pressure; Tourism Pressure; Lack of capacity in conservation techniques; Lack of management mechanism (including legislation); Lack of monitoring system; Lack of presentation and interpretation; Lack of human or financial resources; Earthquakes. 

At the request of the World Heritage Committee at its 27th session, the State Party supplied a report on the state of conservation of this World Heritage property. The report recapitulates and updates conservation and restoration projects carried out at a number of individual monuments since 1972. No reference was made to the comprehensive conservation and management plan, which the State Party reported as being in preparation at the time of inscription on the World Heritage List in 2000 and details of which were requested during the previous session of the Committee. Reference is made however to monitoring procedures set up for the main monuments.

In December 2001, the National Commission of Uzbekistan for UNESCO alerted the World Heritage Centre the potential structural threats facing the Ak Sarai Palace and other important monuments at Shakhrisyabz World Heritage site. Upon receiving this news, which included information on extensive cracks, leaning walls and humidity inside the Ak Sarai Palace, the World Heritage Centre organized, in 2002, an international expert mission to assist the national authorities in elaborating a conservation plan to stabilise the Ak Sarai Palace.

During this mission, the international expert noted that, in addition to major cracks due to past earthquakes, structural threats, human activities, the rise in ground water and weathering (rain and frost), were persistent issues threatening the structures. The combination of these issues was negatively affecting structural stability of the Ak Sarai Palace, as well as accelerating the decay of historic building materials. Furthermore, while the emerging commercial and tourism developments represent a rich, as yet unexploited, economic potential for Shakhrisyabz city, such activities are uncontrolled and pose significant development pressure on the property. The UNESCO mission recommended as a priority that preventive measures to stabilize the Ak Sarai Palace, as well as systematic monitoring and management of the site, be ensured. Subsequently, an emergency assistance request for the stabilisation of the Ak Sarai building was elaborated and submitted by the Government of Uzbekistan, in close collaboration with the UNESCO expert and the World Heritage Centre.