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Historic Centre of Shakhrisyabz

Uzbekistan
Factors affecting the property in 2024*
  • Financial resources
  • Housing
  • Human resources
  • Legal framework
  • Management activities
  • Management systems/ management plan
  • Other Threats:

    Demolition and re-building of traditional housing areas

Factors* affecting the property identified in previous reports
  • Management systems/management plan (Lack of a comprehensive conservation and management plan)
  • Management activities
  • Housing; Commercial development (Major interventions carried out, including demolition and re-building activities)
  • Legal framework (Need to reinforce the national legal framework)
  • Human resources (inadequate)
  • Financial resources (inadequate)
Threats for which the property was inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger
  • Large-scale urban development projects carried out without informing the Committee or commissioning the necessary heritage impact assessments
  • Demolition and rebuilding of traditional housing areas
  • Irreversible changes to the original appearance of a large area within the historic centre
  • Significant alteration of the setting of monuments and the overall historical town planning structure and its archaeological layers
  • Absence of conservation and Management Plan
Desired state of conservation for the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger

Not yet drafted

Corrective Measures for the property

Not yet identified

Timeframe for the implementation of the corrective measures

Not yet identified

UNESCO Extra-Budgetary Funds until 2024

Total amount provided: 2016: USD 30,670 from the UNESCO/Netherlands Funds-in-Trust project for the Application of the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on Historic Urban landscape (2011 UNESCO HUL Recommendation) at the World Heritage properties in Uzbekistan; 2019: USD 43,115 from the UNESCO/Netherlands Funds-in-Trust for building capacity in the conservation and management of World Heritage properties in Uzbekistan.

International Assistance: requests for the property until 2024
Requests approved: 1 (from 1999-2018)
Total amount approved : 15,000 USD
Missions to the property until 2024**

October 2002: Monitoring mission by an international expert; March 2006: UNESCO Tashkent/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission; June 2014: UNESCO Tashkent fact-finding mission; March 2016: joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission; December 2016: joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission; January 2019: joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS High-Level Reactive Monitoring mission

Conservation issues presented to the World Heritage Committee in 2024

On 31 January 2024, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/885/documents/. Progress in addressing a number of conservation issues addressed by the Committee at its previous sessions is presented in this report, as follows:

  • Progress is reported on how a nomination might be presented in the future with a new justification of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV), and how conservation challenges at the property are being identified and will be addressed;
  • Work has started exploring how a nomination for a significant boundary modification that focuses on the Timurid monuments in an urban setting might be developed. This is being led by the Agency of Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Uzbekistan in collaboration with the International Institute for Central Asian Studies (IICAS);
  • The International Advisory Committee (IAC) will be updated on the progress of the proposed nomination and will be invited to discuss a draft in the second half of 2024 prior to its submission to the World Heritage Centre. Due to the complexity of the work, a report will be submitted by 1 February 2025;
  • A conservation project and strategy for the Ak Saray tiles are under preparation and will be revised according to recommendations following review by the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS;
  • A high-level international structural engineering report was commissioned for the Kok Gumbaz Mosque following the collapse of some columns. The preliminary report, issued in November 2023, highlighted several horizontal and vertical cracks and the displacement of walls at the bottom of the dome. Further engineering assessments will be conducted in 2024;
  • An initial assessment of historic monuments was undertaken in 2021 and a tabular summary is provided. This will be followed by a more comprehensive analysis focusing on the integrity and authenticity of each monument;
  • Erosion of the mud-walled fabric, salinity of walls, temperature and humidity fluctuations and earthquakes are all seen as major threats to the property;
  • Inappropriate signage in the Historic Centre of Shakhrisyabz has been removed from the protected area. Streetlights have been reduced, and the destroyed part of the Silk Road Street, affected by the construction of an avenue, is included in the master plan for restoration.
Analysis and Conclusion by World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies in 2024

Confirmation that a nomination with a potential modification in criteria and/or attributes based on Timurid monuments within an urban setting is being explored should be welcomed. It is noted that, following discussion by the IIAC, a report on this work will be submitted by 1 February 2025.

While the State Party acknowledges the complexity of this process, the Committee strongly recommended that the State Party engage in a specific consultation with the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS on procedural questions related to such work, allowing for discussions on possible approaches before any detailed work is undertaken. So far, this engagement has not taken place. In the spirit of upstream advice, the Committee may wish to reiterate its recommendation and request that dialogue between the State Party, the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies be undertaken in 2024, in advance of a submitted report.

To allow the Committee to consider at its 47th session whether a clear way forward can be supported or if the property should be deleted from the World Heritage List, the Committee may wish to request that the State Party’s report, to be submitted by 1 February 2025, should set out a possible way forward for consideration, in compliance with Paragraph 166 of the Operational Guidelines. If the Committee agrees with this proposal, the State Party could then proceed with the development of a nomination dossier, as outlined in several of the Committee’s previous decisions.

The development of a strategy for the conservation of the Ak Saray tiles and a project for their conservation is also to be welcomed. It is indicated that these are under preparation and will be submitted for review by the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS. This should happen before any work commences or is planned in detail.

It is noted that in November 2023 an international structural engineering report was commissioned for the Kok Gumbaz Mosque following the collapse of some columns, and that further engineering assessments will be conducted in 2024 to consider actions to address identified cracks and displacements.

In previous decisions, the Committee had recommended the development of detailed conservation plans for the various individual monuments and an overall conservation approach to be included in the Management Plan. For both Ak Saray and Kok Gumbaz, it would be helpful if such plans are prepared, given the very different challenges each faces.

The State Party’s report indicates that further analysis of the conservation needs of monuments will be undertaken based on the initial assessment of historic monuments undertaken in 2021. Although the State Party specifies that most monuments are in a good state of conservation, this contrasts sharply with the statement that erosion of the mud-walled fabric, the salinity of walls, temperature and humidity fluctuations and earthquakes are all seen as major threats to the property. Given the somewhat drastic measures taken some years ago, clarity is needed on which monuments face erosion and salinity threats and how these will be addressed.

The Committee has also urged the State Party to develop an overall Master Plan for the city, which integrates the conservation needs for the monuments, the Management Plan, proposals for restoration and reconstruction, as well as planning and legal frameworks, all in line with the UNESCO 2011 Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape. The latest report mentions that an area of the main street is in the ‘Master Plan for restoration’. So far, no details have been provided of this Master Plan. The Committee might wish to stress the need for a draft of this Master Plan to be provided at the earliest opportunity, as it will have a bearing on any proposal for nomination.

Decisions adopted by the Committee in 2024
46 COM 7A.40
Historic Centre of Shakhrisyabz (Uzbekistan) (C 885)

The World Heritage Committee,

  1. Having examined Document WHC/24/46.COM/7A.Add,
  2. Recalling Decisions 40 COM 7B.48, 41 COM 7A.57, 42 COM 7A.4, 43 COM 7A.44, 44 COM 7A.31 and 45 COM 7A.54 adopted at its 40th (Istanbul/UNESCO, 2016), 41st (Krakow, 2017), 42nd (Manama, 2018), 43rd (Baku, 2019), extended 44th (Fuzhou/online, 2021) and extended 45th (Riyadh, 2023) sessions respectively,
  3. Also recalling Decision 43 COM 7A.44, in which the Committee allowed the State Party two years to explore possible options for a significant boundary modification 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 furthermore had 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 significant boundary modification 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, 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 significant boundary modification, 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 continued efforts to explore possible ways forward for a nomination with a potential modification in criteria and/or attributes based on Timurid monuments within an urban setting, and notes that work is being led by the Agency of Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Uzbekistan in collaboration with the International Institute for Central Asian Studies (IICAS), and that a report will be submitted by 1 February 2025, following discussion by the International Advisory Committee (IAC);
  6. Also notes the complexity of this process as acknowledged by the State Party, and recalls that the Committee strongly recommended that the State Party engage in a specific consultation with the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS on procedural questions related to such work, and reiterates its recommendation that a dialogue be organised between the State Party, the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS before any detailed work is undertaken on one approach, and requests that this dialogue be undertaken in 2024, ahead of the submission of the report announced for February 2025;
  7. Confirms that the report to be submitted in February 2025 should set out an outline of a possible nomination with modified criteria/attributes based on Timurid monuments within an urban setting, in order to allow the Committee to consider, at its 47th session, whether a clear way forward for the property can be supported, in which case the State Party can develop a new nomination, in line with several of its previous decisions and in compliance with Paragraph 166 of the Operational Guidelines;
  8. Welcomes the work being undertaken to develop a strategy for the conservation of the Ak Saray tiles as well as a project for their conservation, and urges the State Party to submit these as early as possible to the World Heritage Centre for review by ICOMOS before any work commences or is planned in detail;
  9. Notes that engineering assessments have been commissioned for the Kok Gumbaz Mosque following the collapse of some columns and that further engineering assessments will be conducted in 2024 to consider actions to address identified cracks and displacements;
  10. Recommends that conservation plans be prepared for both Ak Saray and Kok Gumbaz, given the very different challenges that each faces, as well as for other individual monuments, as previously recommended by the Committee;
  11. Notes that further analysis of the conservation needs of monuments will be undertaken based on the initial assessment of historic monuments undertaken in 2021, and that the State Party considers that most monuments are currently in a good state of conservation, but also takes notes that this assessment does not align with the statement that erosion and salinity of the mud-walled structures, and earthquakes threaten  the property, and therefore requests the State Party to clarify which monuments face these threats and how these will be addressed;
  12. Reiterates its request for the development of an overall Master Plan for the city that integrates heritage conservation needs, the Management Plan, proposals for restoration and reconstruction, as well as planning and legal frameworks, prepared in line with the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL Recommendation) and further requests that a draft of the Master Plan be submitted at the earliest opportunity to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies;
  13. Requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2025, 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 47th session;
  14. Decides to retain Historic Centre of Shakhrisyabz (Uzbekistan) on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
Draft Decision: 46 COM 7A.40

The World Heritage Committee,

  1. Having examined Document WHC/24/46.COM/7A.Add,
  2. Recalling Decisions 40 COM 7B.48, 41 COM 7A.57, 42 COM 7A.4, 43 COM 7A.44, 44 COM 7A.31 and 45 COM 7A.54, adopted at its 40th (Istanbul/UNESCO, 2016), 41st (Krakow, 2017), 42nd (Manama, 2018), 43rd (Baku, 2019), extended 44th (Fuzhou/online, 2021) and extended 45th (Riyadh, 2023) sessions respectively,
  3. Also recalling Decision 43 COM 7A.44, in which the Committee allowed the State Party two years to explore possible options for a significant boundary modification 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 furthermore had 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 significant boundary modification 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, 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 significant boundary modification, 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 continued efforts to explore possible ways forward for a nomination with a potential modification in criteria and/or attributes based on Timurid monuments within an urban setting, and notes that work is being led by the Agency of Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Uzbekistan in collaboration with the International Institute for Central Asian Studies (IICAS), and that a report will be submitted by 1 February 2025, following discussion by the International Advisory Committee (IAC);
  6. Also notes the complexity of this process as acknowledged by the State Party, and recalls that the Committee strongly recommended that the State Party engage in a specific consultation with the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS on procedural questions related to such work, and reiterates its recommendation that a dialogue be organised between the State Party, the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS before any detailed work is undertaken on one approach, and requests that this dialogue be undertaken in 2024, ahead of the submission of the report announced for February 2025;
  7. Confirms that the report to be submitted in February 2025 should set out an outline of a possible nomination with modified criteria/attributes based on Timurid monuments within an urban setting, in order to allow the Committee to consider, at its 47th session, whether a clear way forward for the property can be supported, in which case the State Party can develop a new nomination, in line with several of its previous decisions and in compliance with Paragraph 166 of the Operational Guidelines;
  8. Welcomes the work being undertaken to develop a strategy for the conservation of the Ak Saray tiles as well as a project for their conservation, and urges the State Party to submit these as early as possible to the World Heritage Centre for review by ICOMOS before any work commences or is planned in detail;
  9. Notes that engineering assessments have been commissioned for the Kok Gumbaz Mosque following the collapse of some columns and that further engineering assessments will be conducted in 2024 to consider actions to address identified cracks and displacements;
  10. Recommends that conservation plans be prepared for both Ak Saray and Kok Gumbaz, given the very different challenges that each faces, as well as for other individual monuments, as previously recommended by the Committee;
  11. Notes that further analysis of the conservation needs of monuments will be undertaken based on the initial assessment of historic monuments undertaken in 2021, and that the State Party considers that most monuments are currently in a good state of conservation, but also takes notes that this assessment does not align with the statement that erosion and salinity of the mud-walled structures, and earthquakes  threaten  the property, and therefore requests the State Party to clarify which monuments face these threats and how these will be addressed;
  12. Reiterates its request for the development of an overall Master Plan for the city that integrates heritage conservation needs, the Management Plan, proposals for restoration and reconstruction, as well as planning and legal frameworks, prepared in line with the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL Recommendation) and further requests that a draft of the Master Plan be submitted at the earliest opportunity to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies;
  13. Requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2025, 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 47th session;
  14. Decides to retain Historic Centre of Shakhrisyabz (Uzbekistan) on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
Report year: 2024
Uzbekistan
Date of Inscription: 2000
Category: Cultural
Criteria: (iii)(iv)
Danger List (dates): 2016-present
Documents examined by the Committee
arrow_circle_right 46COM (2024)
Exports

* : The threats indicated are listed in alphabetical order; their order does not constitute a classification according to the importance of their impact on the property.
Furthermore, they are presented irrespective of the type of threat faced by the property, i.e. with specific and proven imminent danger (“ascertained danger”) or with threats which could have deleterious effects on the property’s Outstanding Universal Value (“potential danger”).

** : All mission reports are not always available electronically.


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