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Medieval Monuments in Kosovo

Serbia
Factors affecting the property in 2008*
  • Civil unrest
  • Legal framework
  • Management systems/ management plan
  • Other Threats:

    Unsatisfactory state of conservation and maintenance of the property

Factors* affecting the property identified in previous reports

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.

Threats for which the property was inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger
  • 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.
Desired state of conservation for the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger

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.

Corrective Measures for the property

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.

Timeframe for the implementation of the corrective measures

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.

UNESCO Extra-Budgetary Funds until 2008

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.

International Assistance: requests for the property until 2008
Requests approved: 0 (from 2003-2003)
Total amount approved : 0 USD
Missions to the property until 2008**

January 2007: UNESCO intersectoral mission to Kosovo 

Conservation issues presented to the World Heritage Committee in 2008

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. 

Decisions adopted by the Committee in 2008
32 COM 7A.27
Medieval Monuments in Kosovo [Serbia] (C 724)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-08/32.COM/7A,

2. Recalling Decisions 30 COM 8B.53, 30 COM 8B.54, and 31 COM 7A.28 adopted at its 30th (Vilnius, 2006) and 31st (Christchurch, 2007) sessions respectively,

3. Acknowledges the continuing difficulties to monitor the property and the challenges to the follow-up to the intersectoral mission of January 2007;

4. Recalls its request for a risk preparedness study, in conformity with Paragraph 118 of the Operational Guidelines and Decisions 28 COM 10B.4 and 30 COM 7.2;

5. Also recalls its request, in cooperation with UNESCO programmes, the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the Institutions of Kosovo, as well as future European arrangements, to continue to take long-term corrective measures, including: ensuring adequate long-term legislative, regulatory protection and management of the property and strong protective regimes for the buffer zones; adequately delineated boundaries and the timely implementation of the management plan;

6. Reiterates its requests for the development, in consultation with the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies, of a draft Statement of Outstanding Universal Value including the conditions of integrity and authenticity, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 33rd session in 2009;

7. Requests, in cooperation with UNMIK, continued efforts in completing the short-term and long-term corrective measures to address the Desired state of conservation defined, for the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger;

8. Also requests the submission, in cooperation with UNMIK, to the World Heritage Centre by 1 February 2009, of an updated report on the state of conservation of the property, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 33rd session in 2009;

9. Requests the submission, in cooperation with UNMIK, to the World Heritage Centre by 1 February 2009, of an updated report on the state of conservation of the property, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 33rd session in 2009;

10. Decides to retain the Medieval Monuments in Kosovo on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

Draft Decision: 32 COM 7A.27

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-08/32.COM/7A,

2. Recalling Decisions30 COM 8B.53, 30 COM 8B.54, and 31 COM 7A.28 adopted at its 30th (Vilnius, 2006) and 31st (Christchurch, 2007) sessions respectively,

3. Acknowledges the continuing difficulties to monitor the property due to political instability, post-conflict situation and the follow-up to the intersectoral mission of January 2007;

4. Recalls its request for a risk preparedness study, in conformity with Paragraph 118 of the Operational Guidelines and Decisions 28 COM 10B.4 and 30 COM 7.2;

5. Also recalls its request to the State Party, in cooperation with UNESCO programmes, the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the Institutions of Kosovo, as well as future European arrangements to continue to take long-term corrective measures, including: ensuring adequate long-term legislative, regulatory protection and management of the property and strong protective regimes for the buffer zones; adequately delineate boundaries and the timely implementation of the management plan;

6. Reiterates its requests to the State Party to develop, in consultation with the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies, a draft Statement of outstanding universal value including the conditions of integrity and authenticity, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 33rd session in 2009;

7. Requests the State Party, in cooperation with UNMIK, to continue its efforts in completing the short-term and long-term corrective measures to address the Desired state of conservation defined, for the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger;

8. Also requests the State Party to submit, in cooperation with UNMIK, to the World Heritage Centre by 1 February 2009, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 33rd session in 2009;

9. Decides to retain the Medieval Monuments in Kosovo (Serbia) on the List of World Heritage in Danger

Report year: 2008
Serbia
Date of Inscription: 2004
Category: Cultural
Criteria: (ii)(iii)(iv)
Danger List (dates): 2006-present
Documents examined by the Committee
arrow_circle_right 32COM (2008)
Exports

* : The threats indicated are listed in alphabetical order; their order does not constitute a classification according to the importance of their impact on the property.
Furthermore, they are presented irrespective of the type of threat faced by the property, i.e. with specific and proven imminent danger (“ascertained danger”) or with threats which could have deleterious effects on the property’s Outstanding Universal Value (“potential danger”).

** : All mission reports are not always available electronically.