Decision 47 COM 7B.111

Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andrássy Avenue (Hungary)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/25/47.COM/7B.Add.4,
2. Recalling Decisions 45 COM 7B.56 and 46 COM 7B.8 adopted at its extended 45th (Riyadh, 2023) and 46th (New Delhi, 2024) sessions respectively,
3. Welcomes the State Party’s intention to continue to avail the expertise of ICOMOS in the further development and overdue finalisation of the Management Plan for the property, and reiterates its request to the State Party to submit a daft Management Plan to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies at the earliest opportunity, without awaiting the adoption of regulatory amendments to the national legislation;
4. Regrets that, despite the Committee’s repeated requests to halt works under the National Hauszmann Programme (NHP) to allow for dialogue on potential modifications, extensive works have continued, and considers that the scale and pace of implementation of the NHP and its large scale reconstructions, many of which only relate to facades, are matters of serious concern, and that several aspects of the ongoing and proposed reconstruction works could prove extremely damaging if the NHP and other similar reconstruction initiatives within the property continue unchecked;
5. Urges the State Party to ensure that, in order to minimise further potential negative impacts on the property’s Outstanding Universal Value (OUV), the need for full demolition and reconstruction of long-lost buildings within the NHP be reassessed in favour of more sustainable solutions, including the adaptive reuse of existing and currently vacant structures;
6. Requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre detailed plans and Heritage Impact Assessments (HIA), prepared in accordance with the Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context, for all components of the NHP yet to commence, to enable review by the Advisory Bodies and facilitate expert advice on mitigating potential negative impacts on the property’s OUV, with particular attention to its authenticity and integrity, especially within the Buda Castle Quarter;
7. Requests furthermore the State Party to suspend all further work on the Citadel project until an HIA for the project has been submitted to the World Heritage Centre and reviewed by the Advisory Bodies, to ensure no negative impact on the attributes conveying the OUV of the property;
8. Takes note moreover of the conclusions of the 2025 joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS/ICCROM Reactive Monitoring mission to the property and also requests the State Party to implement its recommendations in order to improve the state of conservation of the property and strengthen its management system;
9. Recalls the provisions of Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines, stressing the obligation to inform the Committee, through the World Heritage Centre, prior to making decisions that are difficult to reverse, of the intention to undertake or authorise, in an area protected by the Convention, major restorations or new constructions that could impact adversely on the OUV of the property;
10. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2026, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 48th session.