Historic Centre of the Town of Goiás

Urban Pressure; Floods/Landslides

The Secretariat received the ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring report on Goiás on 15 January 2004 and a report from the Instituto do Patrimônio Historico e Artistico Nacional (IPHAN) on 3 February 2004.

As a result of the December 2001 floods and in order to protect the city centre in the future from the intensity of rains, during 2002 an integrated urban and environmental preservation scheme was executed by the local government, which caused intense controversy between local authorities and governmental and non-governmental organisations since it involved major new constructions, among which an avenue along one of the river banks.

In order to assess results of the restoration works carried out and the impact of the integrated treatment, among which the road construction, an ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission was carried out from 5 to 9 January 2004. The report commended the good state of conservation of buildings and public spaces in the historic centre in general and the results of the reconstruction and restoration works. While the revitalization of urban spaces was appreciated as an opportunity to generate new poles of attraction out of the historic city centre, with regard to the construction of the avenue along the riverbank, however, the ICOMOS mission concluded that this was not considered necessary from a functional point of view. Moreover, it could cause direct or indirect damage to the historic centre or other areas of historic and landscape interest and therefore put the Outstanding Universal Value of Goiás in jeopardy.

The report of the Instituto do Patrimônio Historico e Artistico Nacional (IPHAN's 14th Regional Office) provided a detailed overview of the mission, with sites visited, persons consulted and reports presented. It further stated that the project to build the avenue was administratively embargoed and brought to court by IPHAN and the Federal Public Ministry (a branch of the Ministry of Justice).

ICOMOS acknowledged receipt of the IPHAN report and commented that it was a well prepared and detailed chronicle of the mission. It further commended the 14th Regional Office of IPHAN for playing a relevant role before and after the mission, since it was the organism in charge of the organization and follow-up of the arranged programme.