Archaeological Site of Carthage

• Land development and infrastructures within the property
• Legal framework
• Housing
• Management system / management plan

International Safeguarding Campaign, 1973-1989

On 29 November 2022, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/37/documents/. Progress in a number of conservation issues addressed by the Committee at its previous sessions is presented, as follows:

• Demolition of illegal structures has continued, including a partial demolition of the Police Academy. A list of demolished structures was provided but only in Arabic. A considerable number of demolition decrees remain to be executed;
• A boundary delineation has been finalised at a national level and officially adopted by decree (065) issued on 16 May 2022. It delineates the non ædificandi archaeological area of the park of Carthage-Sidi Bou Saïd inscribed in 1985 as a national park, the buildings inscribed as national monuments, and an area inscribed as a natural park;
• Accordingly, the revision of the 2014 Protection and Presentation Plan of Carthage (PPMV) is being finalized, and should be adopted soon;
• As part of a policy of land acquisition to control development pressures at the property, several plots of land have now been acquired. A map identifying their locations has been provided;
• The reports provides information about the conservation units in charge of the site and museum, which consists of 81 staff members;
• While work has been initiated on the development of a research, conservation, and enhancement strategy for the property, and on the launch of an inter-institutional programme to prepare a tourism management plan and a site presentation plan, no details have been provided and it is reported that challenges will remain in the absence of a site Management Plan ;
• A preventive archaeology team has been recently set up by the National Institute of Heritage (INP) to process building permit files in the urbanized zone that is now under control; a monumental building dated to the Roman period was discovered during preventive excavations;
• Current activities include a major rehabilitation project for the Carthage Museum, two major restoration interventions to rehabilitate the site of the Roman Villas and to undertake conservation work in the "Magon" district, and the presentation of the Didon district. International partnerships have been established for excavations, publications and exhibitions;
• Work to improve touristic itineraries and signage at the property is ongoing.

The ongoing programme for demolition of illegal structures is to be commended. Further demolition decrees remain to be executed, particularly to complete the demolition of the Police Academy, which the 2019 Advisory mission considered essential. It would appear necessary to implement existing decrees as soon as possible to maintain the momentum of this programme.

The policy of land acquisition to control development pressures is ongoing. Several new plots have been acquired since the last State Party report. This is a positive approach but, it is recalled that this policy needs to be integrated into wider urban development plans and tools, particularly those that relate to socio-economic development.

It is noted that a boundary delineation of the cultural park of Carthage has been approved at a national level and integrated into the PPMV of Carthage, which is being revised. It is recommended that the Committee recall the importance of establishing criteria for the definition of a buffer zone, as well as the regulations and measures that govern it, as requested in 2018, and also request the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre a Minor Boundary Modification proposal, in line with Paragraph 164 of the Operational Guidelines.

The Committee’s requests that have not been addressed as yet include the preparation and adoption of a Management Plan, the development of strategic approaches to ameliorate development pressures and the elaboration of communication strategies with local stakeholders. All of these are related to the need for the property to have a more symbiotic relationship with its surroundings, to allow it to contribute to the socio-economic development of the wider area.

The State Party reports on the development of two strategies: one for research and another for conservation and enhancement. As no details have been provided, the scope of these initiatives is unclear.

A major project that is only briefly mentioned is the rehabilitation of the Carthage National Museum in the former monastic buildings on Byrsa Hill within the property. This project, which was initiated in 2018, will cover both the rehabilitation and development of the museum buildings. It is supported financially by the European Union and technically by the ‘Agence française de développement’ through Expertise France. It encompasses a major architectural competition in conformity with the International Union of Architects (UIA) Programme, which was launched in October 2022. Details of the proposed competition were provided to the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS, and over the past year, there has been on-going dialogue with the State Party on how the competition structure can accommodate the need to assess the potential impact of submitted designs on the Outstanding Universal Value of the property, before any decision is made by the competition jury. A Technical Review of the winning project, announced in March 2023, is being carried out.