Historic Centre of Sheki with the Khan’s Palace

• Need to prepare/revise and adopt the Management Plan and Conservation Master Plan
• Need to define guidelines for residential house restoration
• Need to monitor all processes of urban rehabilitation

On 30 November 2020, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, which is available at http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1549/documents and reports progress in implementing the recommendations of the Committee adopted at its 43rd session (43 COM 8B.36), as follows:

• A revised version of the preliminary Statement of Outstanding Universal Value (SOUV) was agreed with the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS in June 2020;
• Based on this revised SOUV, and on a detailed list of attributes developed in collaboration with ICOMOS and an improved inventory, the Management Plan (2020-2025) has been updated;
• In recognition of the need for a comprehensive approach to risk preparedness and mitigation, an Emergency Plan was developed with assessments, and response and recovery plans for each type of man-made and natural hazard;
• A Conservation Master Plan (CMP) has been developed that sets out a framework within which detailed conservation guidelines will be developed for each attribute, and provides conservation guidance on monuments, public buildings and the urban landscape;
• The Restoration Manual has been updated to provide conservation guidance for residential houses;
• An Infill Design Manual has been created for new constructions with the aim of protecting traditional building typologies and traditional urban fabric; it needs updating to align with urban zoning in the Urban Regeneration Plan;
• An Urban Regeneration Plan (URP) has been introduced to respond to development pressures; it includes regulated strict and soft zones and measures to incentivise private participation and ensure community involvement, both of which will be further strengthened;
• The overall strategy is to limit new development and promote appropriate re-use of existing buildings;
• A control mechanism for monitoring urban development has been initiated that involves the Executive Committee of Sheki Region (who approves development projects) liaising with the Reserve Management Centre (RMC) (who manages the property) to ensure that all projects respect the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV). The RMC also advises on implementation. Heritage supervisors regularly monitor each of the reserve areas and meet with residents. The property is also monitored remotely by Azercosmos;
• The Yukhari Bash Reserve has been given national reserve status, bringing better protection and more resources for staff. A new director and two architects have been appointed;
• A Presidential Order of 2018 provides funds to conserve major monuments in the property. The State Tourism Agency is developing projects for 19th century hospital buildings, a museum and an art gallery;
• All the above-mentioned plans and documents have been adopted and submitted to the World Heritage Centre;
• The draft Management Plan, draft Conservation Master Plan and an outline of the URP were submitted to ICOMOS and Technical Reviews were provided for each document.

The work undertaken by the Management team over the past two years is impressive, considering the challenges that were identified at the time of inscription. The revised Management Plan, the new CMP, the URP, and their associated documents have a clear relationship to each other, are based on well-articulated attributes of OUV, and overall, have structures that are mainly consistent and logical.

It is encouraging to note that the overall strategy for the property and its buffer zone is to limit new development and promote appropriate re-use of existing buildings, and that the URP stresses the ‘preservation of the main attributes of garden city concept including gardens and water system’ and ‘ensures and encourages public participation in the planning and implementation of urban regeneration strategies’.

It is noted that all these documents have now been approved. Given the complexity of their implementation, it is suggested that some parts will need reviewing to ensure their effectiveness, particularly in relation to regulatory zones, monitoring, protection of the natural setting, and materials for restoration and rehabilitation. 

The urban zoning for the effective use and regulation of the property, as set out in the URP is a good start, but its parameters need to be more detailed and specific for full effectiveness. Currently, there is no distinction between the regulation zones for most of the property and the buffer zone, and the boundaries of some zones cut across the property boundaries. The strongest protection zone covers the area around the Khan’s Palace and some individual buildings, while the second moderate protection zone covers buildings facing streets, with the remaining urban areas of the property and buffer zone comprising the third ‘soft’ zone, on the grounds that ‘they are not visible for the visitors much’. It is recommended that the State Party be requested to ensure that the urban zones clearly distinguish between the property and its buffer zone. Although the CMP stresses the integrity of the ‘planned, productive garden city’, in relation to the form and designs of dwellings, and the use of surrounding gardens framed by irrigation canals, and the Management Plan well analyses these, they are inadequately defined and protected by the urban zones.

A further concern is that although the crucial and symbiotic role of the surrounding forest is clearly recognised in the Management Plan, and its “urbanization” seen as a potential threat, the combined documents submitted do not yet provide a clear understanding of how this potential threat will be adequately managed.

The overall coherence of the property relates to the accretion of urban landscape and architectural details. The need for monitoring any gradual degradation of these details is well observed and forms part of the Action Plan (part of the Management Plan), and is also stressed in the State Party’s report, but what remains unclear is how this process will be carried out to inform management. Detail is also pertinent to the restoration manual. While this is a helpful document for owners, it is considered that its recommendations should be more carefully worded in relation to the use of non-traditional materials and structural stabilization methods for the restoration of traditional houses, if the authenticity of the ensemble is not to be weakened cumulatively over time.

The upgrading of the Reserve to national status is to be welcomed in terms of both the additional protection it provides and the additional resources for staff. 

Given the huge effort that has been put into upgrading and developing aspirational and ambitious management documents, it is considered crucial that the specific weaknesses identified here are considered now before implementation becomes entrenched.