Istanbul (Turkey)
68. The Bureau, while agreeing in principle to providing support for the continuation of the restoration of mosaics of Saint Sophia in Istanbul, noted that the project approved in 1991 under the World Heritage Fund is expected to be completed by the end of 1992.
The Bureau requested that the Committee at its forthcoming session in Santa Fe, review the report of the project which is currently underway and other information from studies that are being undertaken by the Turkish authorities and decide on an appropriate amount to assist in the continuation of the ...
Sites: Historic Areas of Istanbul
III.1 The outgoing Chairman, Mr. Azedine Beschaouch, submitted to the members of the Committee a recommendation made by the Bureau at a special meeting held on 6 December 1992, regarding the strictly specific situation evoked by the Observer Mission of the United States of America to UNESCO in its letter of 27 November 1992 to him in his capacity as the Chairman of the Committee. In accordance with this recommendation, the Committee unanimously decided to suspend the application of the dispositions of paragraph 2, Article 14 of the Rules of Procedure, between the sixteenth and seventeenth ...
IV.1 The Chairperson informed the Committee that the Bureau, at a special meeting held on 6 December 1992 had recommended that the reports on the strategy for the future, requests for international assistance and the situation of the World Heritage Fund, instead of being examined by working groups, be submitted to the members of the Committee under agenda items 7, 12 and 13 respectively. The members of the Committee also decided, in accordance with another recommendation made by the Bureau at its meeting of 6 December 1992, that they will consider the report of the expert group on ...
16 COM VII.1-3
Presentation of the Evaluation Report on the Implementation of the Convention and the Draft Strategy for the Future
VII. 1 The document WHC-92/CONF.2/4 was introduced by Mrs. C Cameron, Chairperson of the Expert Group which was convened in Washington (United States of America) from 22 to 24 June 1992, then in Paris at UNESCO Headquarters, from 27 to 30 October 1992. Mrs. Cameron stressed that on the one hand the group comprised a certain number of experts from different regions of the world, and representatives of ICOMOS, ICCROM and IUCN, and on the other, Bureau members had participated in the work of the Paris meeting. The discussions of the working group were based on the evaluation report for the ...
Abou Mena (Egypt)
The Committee was apprised of the report presented on the site of Abou Mena following concerns expressed by the Bureau in July 1992. At the request of the Chairperson, the Delegate from Egypt provided all the clarifications regarding allegations on the state of the site in his report, which the Chairperson, upon the suggestion of one of the delegates, requested the Committee to include in the report as an appendix. During the discussion which followed, the Tunisian Delegate asked the Centre to pay special attention to confirming the information received by the ...
Sites: Abu Mena
Delos and Delphi (Greece)
The Deputy Director of the World Heritage Centre informed the Committee of the status of the site of Delos, over which the Bureau had expressed some concern in terms of the human resources required for its protection. Following the explanations provided by the Observer from Greece, the Committee took note of the willingness of the Greek authorities to increase the number of guards in spite of the problems involved in attracting employees to an island which is no longer inhabited. On the other hand, concerning the site of Delphi, the Greek Observer reminded the ...
Vatican (Holy See)
The Committee was informed of the various actions undertaken by the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS in collaboration with the Holy See authorities following a certain number of protests concerning a new building on the site of the Hospice of Santa Marta.
The Director of the World Heritage Centre as well as ICOMOS were able to ascertain at the site that the allegations reported mainly by the press were groundless. They commended the spirit of co-operation with which this problem had been approached by the authorities of the Vatican. One delegate congratulated ICOMOS ...
Sites: Vatican City
Ggantija Temples (Malta)
The Deputy Director of the World Heritage Centre brought up the problem of protecting the Megalithic temples of Ggantija and indicated that the report requested of the Maltese authorities on this subject had arrived shortly before the sixteenth session of the Committee. This report shows that the authorities involved have taken the Bureau's concerns into consideration and confirmed the request to extend the site.
Sites: Megalithic Temples of Malta
Ancient City of Damascus (Syria)
The Deputy Director of the World Heritage Centre reported on the information unofficially transmitted to UNESCO expressing concern over the work being done on the western wall of the Mosque of the Omeyyades in Damascus (Syria). When invited by the Chairperson to provide clarification, the Delegate from Syria retraced the history of the Mosque and confirmed that the work in question is being effected on a wall built about twenty years ago to protect the Mosque's inner courtyard from the rain.
The ensuing discussion emphasized the need for the Centre to ...
Sites: Ancient City of Damascus
El Jem (Tunisia)
Regarding the site of El Jem (Tunisia), the Committee was informed of the measures taken at the highest level of Government, as the President of the Republic of Tunisia had transmitted through, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in response to the concerns of the Bureau, the decisions pertaining to a halt in the construction of any extension to the shopping arcade and to the ban on construction of any permanent structures within the amphitheatre. Concerning this point, the Delegate from Tunisia took the floor to thank the Committee for its interest in heritage at large and ...
Sites: Amphitheatre of El Jem
Goreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia (Turkey)
The Committee noted with concern the information received on the state of conservation of the site. According to the consultant responsible for evaluation of the site in question, the Turkish authorities and the Ministry of Culture in particular did not seem to be aware of the decisions taken by the Committee in 1985 providing for an extension of the protected area of the Goreme site. According to the consultant's report, this site is undergoing serious changes due mainly to the construction of hotels in the safeguarded ...
Historic Areas of Istanbul (Turkey)
On the subject of Istanbul, ICOMOS found the information provided by the Turkish authorities to be acceptable. However, it would be desirable for ICOMOS to obtain the accompanying plans of the master safeguard plan, which the Centre might request. Given the importance of Istanbul, which, like Goreme, is the subject of a UNESCO international safeguard campaign, the Committee felt it necessary to send a mission there.
Sites: Historic Areas of Istanbul
Rila Monastery (Bulgaria)
After the presentation on the Monastery of Rila, the Committee asked the World Heritage Centre to write a letter to the Bulgarian authorities to draw their attention to the necessity for implementing a management plan in co-operation with Church representatives.
Sites: Rila Monastery
Quebec Historic Area (Canada)
In response to information conveyed by the press as well as by groups and individuals, the ICOMOS Representative informed the Committee of the task assigned to him by the World Heritage Centre to examine, with the authorities in Quebec, two construction projects (one for the IMAX cinema and one for a naval academy) both on the land located immediately outside the protected area. The ICOMOS report on this matter and the additional explanations given by him gave rise to two statements, the first by the Observer from Canada and the second by the Representative ...
Paris, Banks of the Seine (France)
Concern was expressed with regard to the insertion of a new building in the historic setting of the Banks of the Seine in Paris. Based on a visit to the site and a study of the architectural project, an ICOMOS expert, Mr. Barthelemy, made a favourable report on the project which was approved by ICOMOS and of which the Committee took note.
Sites: Paris, Banks of the Seine
Budapest, the Banks of the Danube (Hungary)
After having analyzed the characteristics of the construction project for the French Institute of Culture building in Budapest, the ICOMOS Representative emphasized the doctrinal considerations involved in inserting contemporary architecture in historic quarters, and the necessity to avoid pastiche or "kitch". He proposed that no action should be taken with regard to this project.
Historic Centre of Rome (Italy)
The ICOMOS Representative informed the Committee of the state of the Rome Colisseum which is suffering both from air pollution due to the proximity of a road and from vibrations caused by the subway. At present financial support from the Banco de Roma is enabling conservation work of the monument to ensure its safeguard.
The Delegate of Italy intervened to thank ICOMOS for the scientific information presented to the Committee and which recalled the usual problems dealt with concerning catastrophes, but in this case the problem of the Colisseum is the ...
Kathmandu Valley (Nepal)
Upon the initiative of ICOMOS, the report pertaining to the Valley of Kathmandu was submitted to the attention of the Committee. This site is the subject of a UNESCO international safeguard campaign and, as the ICOMOS Representative pointed out, numerous reports have been written about it for the past twenty years. Moreover, following an ICOMOS seminar held recently in Nepal on wood conservation, the ICOMOS Representative was able to confirm previously identified obstacles posed by the protection of sites in the Kathmandu Valley. He expressed his concern for the ...
Sites: Kathmandu Valley
Kizhi Pogost (Russian Federation)
With the help of slide illustrations, the ICOMOS Representative introduced the status of the site of Kizhi Pogost, explaining the nature of the problems and the manner in which urgent problems were determined. This presentation was followed by a discussion during which several technical questions were raised. The Committee decided to support the coordination effort undertaken by ICOMOS for this site, and requested that a report be provided during the next meeting of the Bureau in view of implementing an assistance project. The Committee adopted the ...
Sites: Kizhi Pogost
Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites (United Kingdom)
Concerning Stonehenge, the ICOMOS representative provided all the details on the management of the site as well as on the anticipated projects for improvement, including that of a museum site. The ICOMOS recommended to the World Heritage Centre to write to the authorities in the United Kingdom in order to support the measures undertaken for the management of Stonehenge.