Decision 40 COM 7A.29

Historical Monuments of Mtskheta (Georgia) (C 708)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/16/40.COM/7A,
2. Recalling Decision 39 COM 7A.41, adopted at its 39th session (Bonn, 2015),
3. Welcomes the important work and commitment by the State Party to ensure that the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) forms the core of the development of the Urban Land-Use Master Plan (ULUMP);
4. Notes the measures taken by the authorities to guarantee protection to the property through the Decree on the Moratorium on Urban Development and Land Privatization as well as a revised ULUMP which has yet to be finalized and implemented in accordance with World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS recommendations;
5. Decides to remove the Historical Monuments of Mtskheta (Georgia) from the List of World Heritage in Danger;
6. Recommends that the State Party take into consideration the recommendations provided by the 2015 and 2016 World Heritage Centre technical assistance missions, and by ICOMOS, notably to:
   1. Strengthen the strategic spatial planning vision and ensure that the urban dimension of the property be fully reflected in the policies, measures and tools adopted to ensure the conservation of the latter, using if necessary the approach carried by the Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (2011),
   2. Address the governance issue at the local level in order to ensure adequate planning, efficient management and decision making,
   3. Pursue a stakeholder involvement strategy and methodology, together with communication tools,
   4. Review the administrative borders especially in relation to the Jvari site,
      in order to finalize and implement the ULUMP including supportive land use regulations, and a management plan, and also continue to ensure the long term conservation of monuments and archaeological sites through the development of adequate plans and restoration programmes;
7. Welcomes the establishment of a unified buffer zone, encompassing the landscape surrounding the components, including in particular the panorama along the rivers and the mountain setting and requests the State Party to provide this enlarged buffer zone with appropriate protection, and to submit a minor boundary modification proposal of the unified buffer zone of the property to the World Heritage Centre;
8. Also welcomes the initiative of the State Party to invite a joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS/ICCROM Reactive Monitoring mission to the property to assess the implementation of the above-mentioned recommendations;
9. Also requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2017, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 41st session in 2017.