Venetian Works of Defence between the 16th and 17th Centuries: Stato da Terra – Western Stato da Mar

• Lack of management plans for each component 
• Lack of a framework for Heritage Impact Assessment for development proposals
• Need to revise the buffer zones 
• Intrusive and redundant elements within the serial components
• Lack of a Tourism Carrying Capacity study and of visitor management plans
• Lack of a transnational values-based conservation strategy

N/A

On 30 November 2022, the States Parties submitted a joint report on the state of conservation of this serial transnational property, which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1533/documents. Progress on a number of conservation issues addressed by the Committee at its previous sessions is presented in this report, as follows:

• Tourism related carrying capacity studies have been completed for all components. Several components have commenced drafting visitor management plans;
• Brief information and a map were provided for the planned extensions to the buffer zone for Peschiera del Garda. The definition of the buffer zone extension to Kotor is ongoing and arguments are presented to explain why an extension of the buffer zone for Zadar is not necessary;
• A common Local Management Plan format has been developed for application to all components, and a summary has been provided for the St. Nicholas Fortress in Šibenik has been provided. The Local Management Plan for the St. Nicholas Fortress in Šibenik includes a Visitor’s Management Plan. In parallel, an Action Plan for visitor management was developed for the significant landscape Kanal-Luka. The Local Management Plans for Zadar, Kotor, Bergamo and Peschiera del Garda are in preparation;
• Major conservation projects are reported including at Bergamo, Peschiera del Garda and Šibenik, for which detailed documentation was provided related to the second phase of the reconstruction and renovation of the St. Nicholas Fortress;
• Various conservation and maintenance works in Zadar, Bergamo, Peschiera del Garda, and Palmanova are briefly described;
• The States Parties have initiated transnational research and values-based strategies for the conservation, promotion and interpretation of the property. A foundation of experts linked to the Municipal Council of Bergamo has been appointed by the International Coordination Group (ICG) to take charge of transnational research and scientific valorisation of the property. Several activities have been carried out in this area, such as the commissioning of a technological study by the Public Institution Nature of Šibenik-Knin County for the procurement of masonry units (bricks) shared between all the components through the ICG;
• The ICG meets regularly and is working on joint approaches to management planning, promotion and interpretation strategies for the serial property, including education programmes;
• The ICG is continuing to develop a shared approach and framework for Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA), taking into account the Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context, released in 2022 by UNESCO and the Advisory Bodies;
• In Zadar, the project to remove 157 car parking spaces has been completed and transformed into 785 meters promenade;
• For Kotor, the States Parties advise that the development provisions of the approved Spatial Urban Plan will be implemented by requiring HIAs and that they will transmit the design proposals to the World Heritage Centre, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines;
• Documentation provided for several projects identified in Decision 44 COM 7B.43, includes the renewal of the Citadela Bastion (Zadar), which is unlikely to proceed due to technical difficulties; the Ravnice Urban Plan/Gates of Zadar (Zadar buffer zone), which is at the conceptual stage and will be followed by an urban development plan and conservation study; Visitor Centre at Minerska Bay (Šibenik), which has already been confirmed; and redevelopment and rehabilitation of the aqueduct’s piezometric tower and surrounding area in Palmanova;
• An HIA was underway for the Fara parking project in Bergamo. The HIA and the design plans were to be submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by the end of February 2023.

The harmonised approach in managing the serial, transnational property should be acknowledged, and the States Parties encouraged to continue to work on these processes with the coordination of the ICG.

The completion of tourism-related carrying capacity studies for each component is welcomed. They will serve as useful baseline studies to inform the visitor management plans which are still under development. The States Parties should be encouraged to complete these plans as a matter of high priority.

Limited progress has been made to address the Committee’s recommendations regarding the extensions of buffer zones. The proposed extension for Peschiera del Garda needs to be finalised and submitted as a minor boundary modification as soon as practicable. In 2019, the States Parties argued that the enlargement of the buffer zone for Zadar was not necessary, but no rationale was provided. In 2022, they argue that this is unnecessary in relation to the Ravnice Urban Plan/Gates of Zadar project located within the already existing buffer zone. However, the recommendation to extend the buffer zone at the time of the inscription arouse from various potential impacts on the visual integrity of the component part, in light of the potential impacts of nearby developments (Decision 41 COM 8B.21) and highlighted by the 2007 architectural competition which extended beyond the current buffer zone boundary. The States Parties report that the process of revising and enlarging the buffer zone in Kotor is ongoing.

The ICG put in place a common approach to developing the Local Management Plans, and progress has been made in the identification of attributes of individual components. A summary is provided for a combined Local Management Plan and Visitor Management Plan for St. Nicholas Fortress in Šibenik, which briefly mentions a range of significant future interventions, but provides insufficient insight into how these might impact the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property. The Action Plan for the Management of Visitors to the Significant Landscape in Šibenik is a substantial document for the natural protected area in which the St. Nicholas Fortress is located. However, it has not been provided in one of the working languages of the Committee (other than a translated Table of Contents), which makes it difficult to assess its relevance and attention to the requirements of World Heritage protection and management. Brief information is also provided on the Local Management Plan for Zadar, Bergamo and Peschiera del Garda, where similar problems seem to be arising. Despite the reported progress, it is worrying to note that the development of local management plans, which are fundamental elements of the management system, has still not been completed. These plans would provide a values-based framework for future decision-making for each component, and States Parties should be strongly encouraged to finalise this task.

Progress related to transnational research and values-based strategies for the conservation, promotion and interpretation of the property are to be welcomed, and States Parties should be encouraged to develop, as a result of the research, a transnational values-based conservation strategy for the property. Despite the regular coordination work of the States Parties through meetings and the work undertaken by the ICG, the States Parties do not provide information on monitoring arrangements for the state of conservation and management of the serial property as a whole.

Concerning the Committee’s recommendations on specific development projects in Decision 44 COM 7B.43, the provision of information on the project is appreciated, although the annexes to the report for the projects in Zadar have not been provided in one of the Committee’s working languages (English or French), making it impossible to comment at this stage. Regarding the Citadela Bastion (Zadar) renovation project, it is noted that it is unlikely that the project will continue, but if there is a future plan for this site, it is recommended that the project material be provided for technical review by the Advisory Bodies at an early stage in its planning. With regard to the Ravnice Urban Plan/Gates of Zadar (Zadar buffer zone), it is noted that the project is at a conceptual stage, yet this is precisely the stage at which a HIA should be conducted, and the State Party of Croatia should be invited to submit relevant material in English or French for a technical review by the Advisory Bodies, before the planning stages are finalised. Regarding the Visitor Centre, coffee bar and sanitary facilities at Minerska Bay (Šibenik), the reports, which are only partly translated into one of the Committee’s working languages, suggest that the projects have already been finalised and confirmed by the competent national authority without first being submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies. The redevelopment and rehabilitation of an area of Palmanova, including the reuse of the water tower, should be assessed through an HIA, and the design plans submitted together with the HIA report to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies before any irreversible decisions are taken.

For the planned car park project in Bergamo, the State Party of Italy is to be reminded of the Committee’s previous request to submit the final design and other requested documents, including the HIA, to the World Heritage Centre before final decisions are made.

Each of these cases demonstrates the urgent need for the States Parties to put in place adequate measures to carry out HIAs for all changes and projects that potentially have an impact on the attributes and the OUV of the property, and to implement the procedure included in Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines.