Decision 47 COM 7A.20

Historic Centre of Shakhrisyabz (Uzbekistan)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/25/47.COM/7A,
2. Recalling Decisions 40 COM 7B.48, 41 COM 7A.57, 42 COM 7A.4 and 44 COM 7A.31, adopted at its 40th (Istanbul/UNESCO, 2016), 41st (Krakow, 2017), 42nd (Manama, 2018) and extended 44th (Fuzhou/online, 2021) sessions respectively,
3. Also recalling Decision 43 COM 7A.44 (Baku, 2019), in which the Committee allowed the State Party two years to explore possible options for a significant boundary modification (SBM) or a new nomination in order to consider again whether the property should be retained on the World Heritage List for a further period if a clear way forward has been proposed, or to delete the property, and had furthermore urged the State Party to develop a restoration plan with sufficient details to allow appropriate assessment of the potential for each option to justify Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) before proceeding with any work on a SBM or on a new nomination and further encouraged the State Party to seek upstream advice from the Advisory Bodies;
4. Further recalling Decision 45 COM 7A.54 (Riyadh, 2023), in which the Committee concluded that the proposal submitted by the State Party should be explored further while retaining the property on the World Heritage List at that stage, and encouraged the State Party to further explore the possibility of a SBM, in line with Paragraph 166 of the Operational Guidelines, and to study and present “new justification for criteria based on an OUV that would reflect a shift away from the integrity of an overall intact city and towards an ensemble of Timurid monuments, with the urban areas seen as their essential settings”, while noting that it was not possible at this stage to confirm if the new proposition could be justified, recommending specific consultations on it with the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS on this matter;
5. Welcomes the dialogue that has been undertaken with the World Heritage Centre and the ICOMOS involving written advice and two online meetings in January and March 2025 in order to refine proposals for a SBM;
6. Also welcomes the submission of a ‘Draft Outline for the Re-nomination of the Property’ for a SBM, which would reduce the property to four monuments that reflect the vision and achievements of Amir Temur in developing Shakhrisyabz as an imperial capital and religious and cultural centre, while the rest of the city within the walls would become a buffer zone with surviving mahalas providing essential context for the main monuments;
7. Considers that the ‘Draft Outline for the Re-nomination of the Property’ provides a satisfactory approach on which to base a proposed SBM, although further work is necessary to fully substantiate the details and scope of the four monuments, to prepare a detailed comparative analysis in order to set the monuments individually and collectively within the context of other Timurid monuments both in the inscribed property and elsewhere, and to develop a restoration plan as advised by the Committee before any submission is made;
8. Agrees to allow the State Party a period of up to three years for necessary data gathering, archaeological surveys, research and the development of conservation and interpretation plans needed for the preparation of a dossier for the submission of a SBM (by 1 February 2029), and to keep the property on the World Heritage List until the Committee has considered the evaluation of this proposed modification;
9. Also confirms that as the Committee has explicitly encouraged the submission of a significant boundary modification (SBM) and the overall collaboration with ICOMOS has allowed a full investigation of possible alternative approaches for such a modification, the SBM does not need to be subject to a Preliminary Assessment;
10. Notes the detailed information provided on the scope and extent of necessary conservation and that nearly all monuments are suffering to some degree from water ingress from the soil, further considers that care is needed on appropriate treatments and irreversible ones should be avoided if possible, expresses concern at the proposed silicone treatment of the extremely fragile Ak-Sarai walls which are already showing cracks from earthquakes, as it could stiffen the masonry and adversely influence its seismic resistance, and requests the State Party not to progress this treatment;
11. Further notes that as water ingress effects monuments across the city, stresses the need for this issue first to be addressed city-wide before remedial proposals for individual monuments are defined, and requests the State Party to undertake with some urgency a study to explore how the rising water table might be lowered through a drainage system around the city, as envisaged under the Integrity section in the Statement of OUV, and which could replicate the benefits of the former traditional water management system based on canals across the property that have now been largely demolished;
12. Also notes the development of a new Master Plan and a Heritage Code and requests the State Party to submit drafts of these for review before they are finally approved;
13. 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;
14. Decides to retain Historic Centre of Shakhrisyabz (Uzbekistan) on the List of World Heritage in Danger.