Medieval Monuments in Kosovo

a) Lack of legal status of the property;

b) Lack of legislative protection of buffer zones;

c) Lack of implementation of the management plan and of active management;

d) Difficulties to monitor the property due to political instability, post-conflict situation (visits under the Kosovo Stabilisation Force / United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (KFOR / UNMIK) escort and lack of guards and security);

e) Unsatisfactory state of conservation and maintenance of the property.

• Lack of legal status of the property;
• Lack of legislative protection of buffer zones;
• Lack of implementation of the management plan and of active management;
• Difficulties to monitor the property due to political instability, post-conflict situation (visits under the Kosovo Stabilisation Force / United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (KFOR / UNMIK) escort and lack of guards and security);
• Unsatisfactory state of conservation and maintenance of the property.

a) Full and permanent protection of the property in a secure and stable political environment;

b) Agreed medium-term plan for the restoration of wall paintings (including preventive conservation regime) and conservation and rehabilitation of the property;

c) Implementation of the management plans, and full establishment of buffer zones and boundaries including their legal protection.

Urgent / short-term corrective measures:

a) Put in place appropriate guarding and security arrangements for the Church of the Virgin of Ljeviša;

b) Prepare a conservation status report including a condition survey for the wall paintings and the status of the conservation works and take temporary measures where there is an urgent need (for example the lead roof of the west bay of the nave of the Church of Virgin of Ljeviša, that was partly removed, etc);

c) Prepare a risk preparedness study, in conformity with Paragraph 118 of the Operational Guidelines and Decisions 28 COM 10B.4 and 30 COM 7.2.

Long-term corrective measures:

d) Ensure the adequate long-term administrative, regulatory protection and management of the property, in conformity with Paragraph 97 of the Operational Guidelines;

e) Put in place strong protective regimes for the buffer zones;

f) Adequately delineate the boundaries (e.g. extend the boundaries of the Patriarchate of Peć to include more of its riverside-valley settings);

g) Prepare detailed state of conservation reports as a basis for adapted monitoring, preventative conservation measures, and specific conservation projects to reverse decline;

h) Ensure appropriate and timely implementation of the management plan.

a) Urgent / short-term corrective measures to be taken by the State Party, in cooperation with UNESCO programmes, UNMIK and Provisional Institutions of Self Government in Kosovo;

b) Regarding the long-term corrective measures to be taken by the State Party, in co-operation with UNESCO programmes, UNMIK and Provisional Institutions of Self Government in Kosovo no specific timeframe can be given at this stage due to the political situation.

Total amount provided to the property: USD 497,000 following the Donors Conference for the Protection and Preservation of Cultural Heritage in Kosovo, May 2005 ; USD 503,500 by the Italian Government, USD 75,335 by the Czech Government.

Note: The Secretariat was informed by the Legal Advisor that “The UNESCO Secretariat follows the practice of the United Nations, which considers that the Security Council Resolution 12.44 (1999) continues to be applicable to the territory of Kosovo until a final settlement be achieved”.

The State Party submitted a report on the situation of the property. It informed that due to the political situation, the works in the field of legal and technical protection of cultural monuments have met difficulties, due to poor safety conditions, access to the cultural sites and problems for the conservation teams. The Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments in Belgrade under took specific efforts to prevent illegal building construction in the buffer zones.

At the Dečani monastery, in 2008, it is planned to finish the roof, works in the interior and on equipment installations. In the Patriarchate of Peć, a fencing stone wall was built, 500m long, 3m high and 60cm wide, with an entrance gate. In 2007, the Istituto Centrale per il Restauro (ICR, Rome) and an NGO (Intersos) conducted monitoring and equipment maintenance for climate control, installed in the Patriarchate churches, and collected damp data in these churches. The last monitoring was performed on 24 and 25 January 2008. The data collected for the last year show that the newly applied plaster on the façade and the drainage system installed in the summer 2006 do not manifest any impact on the climatic condition changes in the interior. A positive impact is registered in the narthex area, owing to placing a new window on the entrance wall. Reopening of the window on the north wall of the church of St Demetrious caused some changes which are to be further closely monitored. On the church of the Virgin of Ljeviša in Prizren, a lead roof, which had been stolen, was reinstalled. In order to further prevent such actions, UNMIK has arranged a guarding service. A tender procedure for lead covering of the central and side domes is complete and a contractor has been chosen. The works are to start in February 2008. The said works are conducted on the grounds of Memorandum of Understanding (2005) organised by theReconstruction Implementation Commission (RIC).

During 2007, at the Gračanica monastery, no conservation works have been done and the state of conservation of the church and its frescoes remains unchanged.

The State Party has confirmed that a check up on the state of the Medieval monuments in Kosovo was scheduled for the first half of February 2008, with another follow-up report to be submitted.