Kyiv: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra

• Housing
• Legal framework 
• Management system/management plan 
• Urban development pressure
• High-rise buildings that could compromise the panorama of the historical monastic Dniepro river landscape (built)
• War

• War

Not yet drafted

Not yet identified

Not yet identified

UNESCO-Japan Funds-in-Trust project ‘Emergency response for World Heritage and cultural property: damage assessment and protection’ (USD 4,065,000 in 2023, with a supplementary budget of USD 5,899,270 in 2024), from which Kyiv partly benefited

On 31 January 2024, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, the summary of which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/527. The report presents progress on the conservation issues previously raised by the Committee, as follows:

• A Management Plan for the property has been finalised and transmitted to the World Heritage Centre together with the state of conservation report;
• No construction or restoration work are carried out within the property or the buffer zone without the approval of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy (MCIP). There have been no urban development projects in Kyiv that could adversely affect the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property;
• An emergency preparedness and risk mitigation plan is required;
• Measures have been taken to mitigate the risks, such as sandbags to protect the most vulnerable elements of Saint-Sophia Cathedral and the participation of specialists from the conservation areas of the property in UNESCO training programmes;
• The state of conservation of the property is satisfactory, and the condition and stability of the structures of the property are constantly monitored through the analysis of scientific and technical measures implemented in the monuments and their surroundings;
• Scientific research, particularly archaeological research, as well as repair and restoration projects have been carried out to improve the state of conservation and knowledge of the property. More specifically, the vibrometric monitoring of buildings and structures has been initiated (in test mode) to measure the impact of blast waves and horizontal and vertical vibrations during missile and UAV attacks on the city;
• The National Preserve ‘Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’ and National Conservation Area ‘Saint-Sophia of Kyiv’ urgently need technical support to process and store digital models;
• The threat of air strikes by the Russian Federation continues. At the same time, there is still a risk of emergency and rolling power cuts and the shutdown of special equipment that maintains stable conditions in the monuments (microclimate).

On 1 January 2024, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines, the State Party submitted documentation on a residential building project in the buffer zone of the property, which was subject to a Technical Review by ICOMOS, which was communicated to the State Party on 9 April 2024.

Actions implemented by UNESCO and the Advisory Bodies to assist the State Party

UNESCO and the Advisory Bodies are working closely with the competent authorities and other cultural heritage stakeholders in Ukraine, as well as international partners, to support Ukraine in the protection and safeguarding of its cultural heritage. This support is part of UNESCO’s Actions and Emergency Assistance Programme for Ukraine and, more broadly, the Action Plan for Culture in Ukraine, coordinated by UNESCO and developed in close cooperation with more than forty national and international partners, including ICOMOS and ICCROM, and the MCIP, which endorsed it in August 2023.

In partnership with UNITAR/UNOSAT (United Nations Satellite Centre), UNESCO continued the daily verification and documentation of war damage to cultural sites, including updating and maintaining the Ukraine Cultural Heritage Monitoring Platform developed by UNESCO and UNITAR/UNOSA. Satellite monitoring of cultural sites in Ukraine is being complemented by on-site assessment of a selected number of damaged cultural properties.

As part of the partnership with UNITAR/UNOSAT, UNESCO also organised an awareness-raising webinar on the principles of Geospatial Information Technologies (GIT) on 20 October 2023. The webinar was attended by the MCIP and more than 160 participants, including heritage professionals from the National Preserve ‘Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’ and National Conservation Area ‘Saint-Sophia of Kyiv’. The modules were translated into Ukrainian and made available on the UNITAR training courses website.

Moreover, in the framework of the UNESCO-Japan Funds-in-Trust project ‘Emergency response for World Heritage and cultural property: damage assessment and protection’, UNESCO, in collaboration with ICCROM, organised an online workshop on 3 and 6 October 2023, with the participation of more than 100 national and international stakeholders, including the National Heritage Institute of Poland, World Monuments Fund, UNOSAT and MCIP and its national partners, including heritage professionals from the National Preserve ‘Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’ and National Conservation Area ‘Saint-Sophia of Kyiv’, to identify and discuss existing methodologies for damage and risk assessment of cultural property. The outcome of this workshop, aimed at cultural heritage professionals, World Heritage and Tentative List sites managers, and those responsible for cultural property under enhanced protection, was the development of a unified methodology and form for on-site damage and risk assessment of cultural property, adapted to the Ukrainian context, in accordance with the national regulatory framework and the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two Protocols (1954 and 1999). Based on the methodology developed, a five-day in-person workshop was held in L’viv from 23 to 27 October 2023 for 20 Ukrainian professionals, including from the National Preserve ‘Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’ and National Conservation Area ‘Saint-Sophia of Kyiv’, on how to conduct on-site damage and risk assessments.

Also in the framework of the above-mentioned UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trust project, on 23 April 2024, in collaboration with ICOMOS, an online working session was organised with representatives of MCIP and five professionals from the ‘National Conservation Area Saint-Sophia of Kyiv’ to discuss the available and pending digital documentation for this component part of the property, as well as gaps and issues related to the process and storage of digital models in preparation for the documentation of the state of conservation of the Saint-Sophia Cathedral in June-July 2024 and the provision of guidelines for emergency preparedness measures for the property. Lastly, in the framework of the same Funds-in-Trust project, support is being provided to develop project documentation and implement priority restoration interventions in the 17th century Church of All Saints in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra component of the property.

The report highlights the progress made in the conservation of the property and describes the challenges faced by a country at war in implementing the requests and recommendations of the Committee.

Following an extensive programme of collaboration with the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS since 2017, the State Party has submitted a proposed Management Plan, which has been reviewed by ICOMOS. The parameters, structure and content are deemed adequate, but a number of important further refinements are recommended before the Management Plan is finalised, including provisions for its legal status, preservation of authenticity and integrity of the property, interpretation, urban development controls and inclusion of an action plan.

As a complement to the Management Plan, and as requested in Decision 45 COM 7B.59, it is recommended to reiterate to the State Party that it should ensure that the adopted and planned legislative amendments do not have a negative impact on the fulfilment of its obligations under the World Heritage Convention, and to submit them to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies before they are enacted. The Committee may also wish to remind the State Party that, in accordance with Paragraph 118bis of the Operational Guidelines, Heritage Impact Assessments are to be carried out as a pre-requisite for development projects and activities that are planned for implementation within or around the property and submitted, together with project details, to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies prior to any decision that would be difficult to reverse, and that such assessments should be carried out in accordance with the methodology of the Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context.

In the framework of the UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trust project ‘Emergency response for World Heritage and cultural property: damage assessment and protection’, UNESCO, in cooperation with ICOMOS and ICCROM, is assisting the State Party in the development of a comprehensive methodology for conducting post-event on-site damage and risk assessment for immovable cultural property in Ukraine, the documentation (including through 3D) of the state of conservation of the component part of the property ‘Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings’, and the preparation of guidelines on risk reduction, emergency preparedness and first aid. This work should contribute to the development of an emergency preparedness and risk mitigation plan for the property, noting that the Committee requested that this be given high priority and that full use be made of the assistance provided by the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies. In developing this plan, it would be appropriate to incorporate the work being undertaken on vibrometric monitoring of buildings and structures.

The scientific studies, repairs and restoration work carried out by the State Party on the property are welcome.

While the State Party has in place detailed regulations to preserve the landscape and urban qualities of the buffer zone, including restrictions on the volume and height of new buildings, a review of recent new developments has highlighted the need for these regulations to be better adapted to the specific characteristics of the historic urban landscape in order to prevent the urbanisation of green areas such as the slopes of the Pechora-Navodnytska hill. 

A proposal for the Desired state of conservation for the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger (DSOCR) and the definition of a set of corrective measures along with a timeframe for their implementation has not yet been produced. It is recommended that the Committee again request the State Party to consult with the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies regarding the establishment of the DSOCR, with associated corrective measures and timeframe for implementation, including an emergency preparedness and risk mitigation plan to be included in the Management Plan for the property, noting that this process may be hampered by the ongoing war and its unforeseeable consequences.

Overall, the property remains subject to ascertained and potential danger due to the ongoing war and should remain on the List of World Heritage in Danger.