At its eighteenth session, the Committee-requested the World Heritage Centre to send a ‘monitoring” mission to the World Heritage site (44 ha) to evaluate its state of conservation. A mission comprising two experts, Professor Spini (architect) and Ms Antongini (anthropologist) left Paris at the beginning of July for Abomey. These two experts, who have worked at the site, were designated by the Directorate of Heritage of Benin, which requested them to:
i) review the nomination dossier for the site and complete it in accordance with the new nomination format which will be presented at the nineteenth session of the World Heritage Committee in December 1995:
ii) establish a conservation plan which,
provides the history of conservation works carried out on each of the palaces, defines a preventive conservation policy based on priorities -to be established in function of the fragility of the structures and the dangers threatening the site, and
iii) propose the creation of an organism which will be responsible for the protection and the management of the site, placed under the authority of the Directorate of Heritage, and with which associations and other governmental partners concerned with preservation and enhancement of the site may participate.
The Bureau congratulated the Benin authorities and encouraged them to continue their efforts for the protection of the site. The Secretariat will present to the World Heritage Committee, at its nineteenth session, a report on the results of this mission undertaken in July 1995.