Rock-Hewn Churches, Lalibela

• Absence of a Management Plan for the property (issue resolved)
• Lack of clearly defined boundaries for the property and the buffer zone
• Impact of the four temporary shelters constructed in 2008
• Insufficient urban and architectural regulations
• Urban development and encroachment around the property
• Impact of rainwater and humidity
• Impact of earthquakes
• Geological and architectural characteristics of the property
• Demolition of most of the traditional “tukul” dwellings

Total amount provided to the property: USD 800,000 for the « Conservation Action Plan for Lalibela » -Phase 1 and Phase 2 (Norwegian Funds-in-Trust).

On 4 December 2020, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/18/documents/. Further details on the church shelters were submitted on 11 December 2020. Progress in several conservation issues addressed by the Committee at its previous sessions is indicated, as follows:

• An Ethiopian-French bilateral project is developing a long-term conservation strategy for the churches. Options have been suggested for the shelter design based on the updated norms governing the structural calculation of the existing shelters, requiring anchors into the natural rock;
• The bilateral projects also encompass a three-year funded partnership agreement (the Sustainable Lalibela Project), securing resources for additional actions on archaeological heritage research, material conservation and capacity building based on previous ICOMOS advice, as well as the intention to promote the enhancement of the property with an open-air museum. The following work has been undertaken:
  • Monitoring report of the results of a one-year cycle of crack monitoring,
  • Installation report on the placement of 16 electronic fissure-meters on the foundations of the existing shelters in 2019,
• Detailed maps of Group 1 and 2 with identification of voids and tunnels with 3D laser scanning,
• Development of a dismantling methodology for the existing shelters;
• Final reports of the 2016/2018 US-funded (US Government’s Ambassadors Fund for the Cultural Preservation) conservation on the uncovered Bete Gabriel Rafael and Bete Golgotha/Mikael churches have been submitted
• Information is provided on the Council of Ministers of Ethiopia regulation No. 344/2015 of August 2015, which defines the churches and their surroundings as a Reserved Area, operationalizes an Advisory Committee for local site management, and identifies the World Heritage property and buffer zone boundaries with GPS coordinates. Integration of these boundaries into a cadastral system through the Federal Mapping Agency is planned;
• The Structural Plan regulating the urban growth of Lalibela is currently being revised to direct the urban expansion to lower-lying parts of the town, though further details were not specified.

Information on the bilateral Ethiopian-French collaboration is regularly exchanged with the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies for comment and review.

ICOMOS prepared two extensive technical reviews of the above-mentioned material, and meetings were held with representatives of the State Party, the French authorities, the World Heritage Centre, ICOMOS and others on 2 December 2020, 4 February 2021 and 12 May 2021.

In 2008, four temporary protective shelters were erected over five of the eleven rock-hewn churches to protect them from weathering and to allow conservation and repairs to be carried out. The Committee agreed reluctantly to their construction and only subject to parameters that included their ultimate dismantling.

The conservation work envisaged when the shelters were erected has not materialized in any adequate form and no monitoring of the condition of the rock was undertaken. Recently, the engineering norms that are relevant to these shelters have been revised to reflect local climatic conditions, with the result that these structures no longer have sufficient structural integrity to meet these norms. The Statement of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) acknowledges that these structures have a visual impact on the integrity of the property. Moreover, the church authorities and the local community have never approved of these structures because of their visual intrusion into holy spaces, but also for the frightening noise resulting from vibration that can interrupt ceremonies and cause panic.

The objectives of the current French-initiated bilateral project are to be welcomed in terms of the long-term protection of the churches and their restoration, and the training and capacity building components and other improvements to the property under the "Sustainable Lalibela Project". A Steering Committee consisting of national and international authority representatives has been established to oversee this project.

The project also addresses the feasibility of improving/replacing the shelters. Based on studies of the mineral structure of the rock into which the churches are carved and its susceptibility to water penetration, the feasibility study recommends complete external protection of all churches by permanent shelter constructions. In order to meet the new engineering norms, such shelters would either need to be bound to the ground by massive counterweights or anchored into the rock. Three options for the design of the shelters are being explored. The Steering Committee concluded that as the anchoring option enables lighter shelter constructions, UNESCO and the Advisory Bodies should be requested to support in principle the use of anchors. Yet, the data so far provided on rock analysis is insufficient to allow a clear understanding of the causes of the cracks within the churches or of how they might have changed over time. The current analysis that has been provided is more of a general analysis of the rock type and does not provide specifics or comparators with other churches. What is also lacking is any detailed analysis of the traditional practices that were in place some fifty years ago for sheltering the roofs of the churches in the rainy season, of any negative impacts of drier conditions under shelters, or of detailed comparisons of weathering between sheltered and unsheltered churches.

The reports from the previous 2016-2018 conservation projects of two churches not covered by shelters suggested a conservation strategy based on a minimal intervention approach using sustainable stone conservation techniques with local craftsmanship to actively pursue regular seasonal maintenance to counterfeit the rain and sun's erosive effects.

Requested to assess whether anchors for new shelters were acceptable or not, ICOMOS considers that this question implies an acceptance of shelters as the preferred solution to address the conservation concerns. On the basis of current knowledge, the Advisory Bodies do not consider that enough data exists to rule out other options or to choose the shelter option. More information is needed on the efficacy of alternative, less-invasive protection approaches to preventing water penetration and its protective contribution to weathering effects before generally ruling such treatment strategies out. All potential options need to be explored as a basis for developing a conservation plan. Moreover, while the shelter option might bring some benefits to the physical fabric, the negative impacts that the shelters would bring to the architecture and symbolism of this extraordinary fragile, holy ensemble of churches, also needs to be considered. The 2018 joint UNESCO/ICOMOS/ICCROM Advisory mission to Lalibela highlighted the importance of ensuring that all interventions are sensitive to the entire property's living heritage and the churches' sacred character.

The information provided by the State Party on the operationalization of the Local Advisory Committee's involvement introduced with the national reserve act to the property (proclamation Nr. 344/2015) is not sufficient to conclude that effective local management of the property has yet been put in place. Furthermore, the report does not provide any information on how the improvement of living conditions near the churches is being addressed in ongoing urban planning processes since no vision statement on a sustainable development perspective for the urban condition of Lalibela has been presented, as requested by the World Heritage Committee.