Centennial Hall in Wrocław

• Eastern Bridge road proposal
• Lack of overall development plan for the property and its buffer zone

N/A

Since the 2011 Reactive Monitoring mission, monitoring has been underway for redevelopment projects within the property, protection issues of Szczytnicki Park and the construction of a new road in the wider setting, partly touching the buffer zone (Eastern Bridge and Great Island Avenue). Following Decision 36 COM 7B.80, state of conservation reports were submitted by the State Party in 2014 and 2015 and examined by the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS. The State Party received the related technical recommendations.

Since then the World Heritage Centre received and shared with the State Party third-party information in 2018, 2020 and 2022 on the construction of Great Island Avenue and its role in the reorganization of Wrocław’s vehicular mobility, including reference to a new Study on Local Conditions for Spatial Planning and Mobility Strategy (2018 Study) undertaken by the Municipality of Wrocław, and indication of the need to clear the outer area of Szczytnicki Park to allow the construction of the Avenue.

The State Party replied in 2018, 2019 and 2022 indicating that the new bridge and road are necessary to relieve the traffic from Grunwaldski Square and Zwierzyniecki Bridge and to provide alternative access to the Great Island. The State Party further pointed out that the construction of the Eastern Bridge was already in Max Berg’s plan since 1919 and would therefore be in line with Berg’s design for the Great Island. The State Party also underlined that the 2018 Study confirmed the downgrading of Great Island Avenue (Grand Island Alley) from an arterial to a collector road for local traffic.

In 2022, the State Party submitted detailed project drawings of the proposed section of Great Island Avenue near Szczytnicki Park. However, those drawings did not allow for a clear assessment of whether the historic part of the park was encroached upon and how many trees would be felled. Consequently, ICOMOS advised that the drawings should be presented overlaid with historic cartography and aero-photogrammetric maps of the area for a better understanding of the situation on the ground in terms of trees to be felled.

The State Party also reported that in the years from 2012 to 2020, annual investment in Szczytnicki Park maintenance amounted to over 1 million PLN (approx. 220,000 EUR today) and would exceed 2 million PLN in 2020.

The State Party also informed in April 2022 that the Management Plan was finalized in 2016 and was about to be updated. A Steering Committee was set up and a Plenipotentiary of the Mayor of Wrocław appointed for the management of the property.

In 2021, a Team for Monitoring the Preparation of Management Plans for World Heritage Properties in Poland was established and tasked with the review and evaluation of management plans and systems for World Heritage properties in Poland. The team will support the update of the Management Plan of the property.

The State Party has not replied to the World Heritage Centre’s invitation of 18 May 2022 to submit comprehensive and detailed documentation on the Great Island Avenue project, nor to the invitation to submit, by 1 February 2023, a state of conservation report on the property. By letter of 24 May 2023, the State Party informed the World Heritage Centre that it needed more time to finalise the state of conservation report, to which it was informed that the deadline had been exceeded and the Centre would no longer be able to take it into account.

Since the 2011 Reactive Monitoring mission to the property and the 2012 World Heritage Committee Decision (36 COM 7B.80), several projects have been implemented at the property. These include the restoration and adaptation of the Four Dome Pavilion, the construction of an underground car park close to the Centennial Hall, the Afrykarium in the zoo precinct, the revitalization of the WUWA Project and the finalisation of Phase II of the renovation of Centennial Hall (2019-2020). Documents concerning these projects were shared at a very late stage once all decisions had already been made, or when work had already begun. Technical recommendations were provided to the State Party by the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS, but they were not considered. For Phase II of the Centennial Hall renovation, documents were not shared. Almost all projects have now been completed, except for the Great Island Avenue, which is in an advanced stage of implementation. The World Heritage Committee has therefore not had the opportunity to examine the potential impacts of these projects on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property and to provide recommendations to ensure that they can be avoided or mitigated.

The cartographic support of the Wrocław Municipality’s 2018 Study indicates that Great Island Avenue and Olympic Avenue are aligned. Once built, they will allow the connection between the Inner-City Ring Road and Jana III Sobieskiego Avenue, which is an important access road to Wrocław from the east making them ‘de facto’ an eastern section of the Inner-City Ring Road, regardless of their classification in planning. Therefore, an assessment of the potential indirect and induced impacts of these roads on the property and its historic setting will be required and mitigation measures established.

The appointment of a Team for Monitoring the Preparation of Management Plans for World Heritage is to be noted. The State Party may be requested to provide updates on the progress made in fulfilling the agreed tasks.

The State Party has yet to submit the overall Development Plan that was requested by the Committee in 2012. The Committee may wish to reiterate its request and ask for such plan to be integrated into the updated Management Plan.

Furthermore, no Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) of the Eastern Bridge and Great Island Avenue has been submitted by the State Party to assess their potential impacts on the property and its historic landscape. The State Party has submitted additional impacts assessment considerations, but these cannot be considered as an adequate replacement for a HIA.

In conclusion, regrettably, between 2011 and 2023 several large-scale projects have been carried out at the property without timely communication about them to the World Heritage Committee prior to final decisions, as required by Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines and without an adequate assessment of their impacts on the OUV, based on the Guidance on Heritage Impact Assessments for Cultural World Heritage Properties (ICOMOS, 2011) methodology, applicable until 2022. Therefore, the World Heritage Committee may wish to request the State Party to invite a Reactive Monitoring mission to the property to assess the extent of the impacts of completed and ongoing projects in the property, its buffer zone and wider setting, to provide recommendations on any mitigation measures that may be required, to examine potential new planned projects and to assess the overall state of conservation of the property.