Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte in Braga

• Legal framework (classify the whole site as a National Monument)
• Management System/Management Plan (improve the documentation, update and supplement the Management Plan, improve the Action Plan, visitor management, improve institutional links between stakeholders)
• Low impact research/monitoring activities (develop additional monitoring indicators and improve the documentation related to heritage elements)
• Buildings and development (remove the terrace bar)

N/A

On 12 December 2023, the State Party submitted a report on the state of conservation of the property, which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1590/documents/. The report presents the progress made by the State Party on a number of conservation issues raised by the Committee at the time of the inscription and at its extended 44th session (Decision 44 COM 7B.158), as follows:

• The inventory and archiving of the heritage elements is underway. The collection can be consulted on site and online and a georeferenced database of immovable, movable and natural elements will be promoted;
• The park and the wood have benefitted from appropriate conservation work, thanks to sufficient investment and volunteer work: 2,500 new trees have been planted, favouring autochthonous species, dead and decaying trees have been removed and, where necessary, volumes have been reduced. The Confraternity of Bom Jesus acquired a plot of land on the southern border of the Bom Jesus wood, which posed a significant fire risk to the property;
• The revision process of the Braga Master Plan is expected to be announced in early 2024;
• The municipalities of Braga and Guimarães have created the Association ‘Sacromontes de Braga e Guimarães’ to implement the ‘Intermunicipal Sacromontes Programme’, which promotes the enhancement and restoration of the built heritage, the protection and active management of the forest area and landscape, and the promotion of the area of high heritage and touristic value;
• The Municipal Forest Fire Defence Plans of the municipalities of Braga and Guimarães are operational. An integrated and adaptive intermunicipal strategy is still needed;
• There have been no major construction works since 2021 and consequently no Heritage Impact Assessments (HIAs) have been undertaken. The removal of the terrace bar has not yet been carried out, although it has been authorised, as the necessary funding has not yet been received under the Programme ‘Bom Jesus: Requalificar III’. However, the Confraternity has planned to remove it in December 2023;
• With the exception of the work undertaken in the wood, the remaining actions of the revised Action Plan were not implemented due to lack of funding. The programme ‘Bon Jesus: Requalificar III’ is on hold and no alternative funding has been identified;
• A detailed Conservation Plan requires technical expertise that is not yet available within the Confraternity’s working team, which is planned to be renewed over the next three to five years in order to be able to implement the Plan effectively. A revised and more effective monitoring system will be included in the future Conservation Plan;
• In 2023, the number of visitors has increased to higher rates than in the pre-COVID period. The production of visitor guides and training for guided tours were implemented in 2022 and 2023 as part of an Action Plan on Tourism. However, other actions such as the signage and the Interpretation Centre have not been realised due to lack of funding. A Tourism Management Plan with actions, timetables and dedicated resources has not been established.

The continuation of the work on the inventory and archiving of the heritage elements is welcome, although the Committee may regret that it has not been completed four years after inscription.

The work on the park and the wood, which has helped maintaining their adequate state of conservation, is welcome. However, the development of additional monitoring indicators, as requested by the Committee at the time of inscription and in its Decision 44 COM 7B.158, has not been reported by the State Party.

The State Party did not provide details on the concrete revisions of the Braga Master Plan to be initiated in early 2024. Therefore, no information has been received since the last decision of the Committee as to whether specific actions will be included to monitor the urban expansion/developments that may have an impact on the property, its buffer zone and the wider setting.

Although the continuation of the ‘Intermunicipal Sacromontes Programme’ is welcomed, the need for an integrated and adaptive intermunicipal strategy for the property, its buffer zone and wider setting to closely monitor the threat of fire should be underlined and effective measures taken.

Although no major construction projects are reported to be planned or underway, the Committee may wish to recall that HIAs of proposed developments within the property, including their potential cumulative impacts, need to be systematically undertaken and submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies in accordance with Paragraph 118bis of the Operational Guidelines and based on the Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context.

It is regrettable that, despite the commitment of the State Party to remove the terrace bar noted by the Committee in 2021 (Decision 44 COM 7B.158), this had still not been done at the time of the submission of the report on the state of conservation. Given that at the time of inscription, the Committee had already requested the State Party to provide a firm and more precise commitment on ‘the timing of the removal of the terrace bar’ (Decision 43 COM 8B.31), it is recommended that the Committee reiterate its request and further request the State Party to inform the World Heritage Centre of the removal of the terrace bar, which it has reported will take place in December 2023.

The Committee may regret that the lack of funding, in particular the suspension of the ‘Bom Jesus: Requalificar III’ programme, has caused the State Party to postpone the demolition of the terrace bar, which was explicitly referred to in earlier Committee Decisions, as well as the placement of signposting, including for the nature walk, the rehabilitation of the funicular stop (“Elevador square”), the rehabilitation of the Casa dos Correios and the creation of the Interpretation Centre, the restoration of the exterior of the three chapels in the Yard of the Evangelists, and the rehabilitation of the Portico area. It is therefore recommended that the Committee invite the State Party to redouble its efforts to identify appropriate sources of funding for the implementation of the removal of the terrace bar and the other mentioned rehabilitation projects as soon as possible.

It is noted that the Confraternity’s working team may need additional time and resources to be fully operational and to ensure effective implementation of a detailed Conservation Plan. However, the timeframe of three to five years for the renewal of the team to upgrade its technical capacity is considered too long. It is important that the Confraternity and the State Party actively collaborate in seeking technical expertise from relevant public institutions and authorities to update the Management Plan in a timely manner, which should include a detailed Conservation Plan, a well-developed and articulated Tourism Management Plan, the results of the vegetation study to present, manage and sustain the vegetation, particularly the tree heritage, and a revised and more effective monitoring system to ensure regular reporting on conservation work, the state of the park and the wood, the impact of visitation and the threat of urban expansion/development and forest fires.