Preparatory assistance for Serial Nomination of “Coral Stone Mosques of Maldives”

Objectives

The general term “Upstream process” covers all the actions undertaken to improve the processes and practices related to the preparation of a nomination to the World Heritage List. The objective was to explore creative approaches and new forms of guidance that might be provided to States Parties when considering nomination projects prior to the submission of a dossier, in order to assess their feasibility, as well as in relation to the nomination process itself. It did not imply that a site going through the “upstream process” would ultimately be inscribed on the World Heritage List, but it would reduce the number of properties experiencing significant problems during the nomination process.

Launched in 2011, the “upstream process” started, on an experimental basis, with ten pilot projects (one per UNESCO electoral group). The “Coral Stones Mosques of the Maldives” was one of the pilot projects, selected upon proposal by the UNESCO Asia-Pacific group.

The objectives of this project were to:

• conduct a preliminary survey of the coral stone mosques of Maldives;
• identify 4 to 5 ancient mosques that would meet the justification for World Heritage inscription in terms of their integrity and authenticity among the ones already retained by the preliminary survey;
• develop a work plan towards the actual preparation of the nomination dossier.

Results

By end of August 2012, the following activities had been undertaken:

• Desk study of some 51 mosques of Maldives and shortlisting of 21 coral stone mosques;
• Quick field survey of these 21 coral stone mosques and identification of the 5 most significant mosques;
• Documentation and detailed survey of the 5 mosques identified for a possible serial nomination and for a draft statement of Outstanding Universal Value;
• Brief comparative analysis of coral stone mosques with other similar structures in the world.

On 19 February 2013, the Maldives revised its Tentative List of sites for potential nomination on the World Heritage List, replacing the entry “Hukuru Miskiyy (Friday Mosque)” by an entry entitled "Coral Stone Mosques of Maldives".

One of the main difficulties in the early stages of preparing this nomination was to maintain a dialogue as constructive and frequent as envisaged in the “upstream process” between the Government of the Maldives on one hand and UNESCO and ICOMOS on the other. Therefore, besides this International Assistance project, the World Heritage Centre secured a financial contribution from the UNESCO-Korean Fund-in-Trust in order to improve this communication, in addition to providing technical assistance to the Maldives and enhancing national capacities for heritage documentation, conservation and for the preparation of the nomination. In this framework, a joint UNESCO-ICOMOS Upstream Advisory Mission to the Maldives was carried out in August 2014.

A second International Assistance was granted in 2015 to further substantiate the potential Outstanding Universal Value of the proposed serial nomination and justify the selection of the component sites.