Gelati Monastery

a) General need for interior and exterior conservation work on the monuments;

b) Insufficient coordination between the Georgian Church and the national authorities;

c) Lack of co-ordinated management system;

d) Major reconstruction of the structure of Bagrati Cathedral.

The World Heritage Committee at its 29th session (Durban, 2005) encouraged the State Party to take appropriate measures, including seeking of funds, to address conservation issues identified in the state of conservation report.

The Ministry of Cultural Affairs of Georgia submitted a report on 12 March 2007 to the World Heritage Centre, dated January 2007. This report provides a comprehensive overview of all the issues relevant to the long term conservation of the property. This detailed report includes a proposal by the State Party for a new statement of significance, a statement of authenticity/integrity, a description of the situation for management, detailed monitoring reports concerning the physical condition of frescoes and materials within the two ensembles, and recently completed conservation work and studies addressing some of the problems identified.

More specifically, the report proposes a new approach to the justification of the property, including: nomination under two additional criteria, (i) and (ii), but without justification as well as a statement of authenticity/integrity not fully in compliance with the Operational Guidelines.

Concerning the lack of a management plan for the two properties, unresolved management conflict between Church and State and the physical state of conservation of the two ensembles the report provides observations included already its report of January 2005. The Committee’s request (29 COM 7B.75) is not addressed in the State Party report. Indeed, all of the problems described at the time appear still in place, and in most cases worsened by the passage of time without positive treatment.

The current report also notes that the major reconstruction project for the structure of the Bagrati Cathedral, first questioned at the 28th session of the Committee (Suzhou, 2004), is no longer being considered.

The World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS express their concern about the increasing gravity of the physical situation described of the two ensembles, the continuing inability of the State Party to provide the necessary management, and institutional conditions necessary to ensure the long-term survival of these monuments, and for the apparent failure to secure the necessary financial support to address previously defined problems.