Jerusalem’s cultural heritage – Implementation of ongoing projects – UNESCO document

 Item 11 of the provisional agenda

JERUSALEM AND THE IMPLEMENTATION

OF 37 C/RESOLUTION 44 AND 192 EX/DECISION 11

1. As indicated in the previous documents on this item, only one project, concerning the conservation of the church of St John Prodromos, is being funded by the Leventis Foundation of Cyprus under the Action Plan for the safeguarding of the cultural heritage of the Old City of Jerusalem (2007). A mission by the World Heritage Centre was carried out to Jerusalem from 27 November to 1 December 2013 in order to proceed with the closure of the project on the Church of St John the Baptist, which was launched in 2009. Based on UNESCO’s study and project design for the restoration of the Church, the A.G. Leventis Foundation and the Greek-Orthodox Patriarchate shall cooperate to implement the restoration work.

2. The agreement for the third phase of the project for the establishment of the Centre for the Restoration of Manuscripts of the Haram al-Sharif funded by Norway was signed by the Director-General and the donor in December 2011. The activity started in September 2012 and is progressing well. Five additional staff members financed by the project have been recruited and six training sessions on conservation and restoration techniques have already been held. Conservation material has been shipped and study field trips to restoration centres in Paris and Florence were organized for the staff members.

3. Within the framework of the project “Safeguarding, Refurbishment and Revitalization of the Islamic Museum of the Haram al-Sharif and its Collection” funded by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the premises of the Islamic Museum have been repaired and the necessary equipment has been purchased in order to help the inventory process and the digitization of the collections. In 2011 and 2012, the permanent staff members recruited were trained in conservation and museum management, English language and computer programmes. In addition, a storage room was set up, and the archives were digitized. The artefacts are being cleaned and conserved, the electronic and photographic inventory is nearly completed. The museological/museographical phase started in September 2012 and subsequently, the Director of the Museum of Islamic Art within the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, selected by UNESCO as coordinator, proposed a plan of action and the scientific conception of the museum. The interior design of the museum has been submitted by the selected architect. An audience development team produced a report on the expectations of the public and the restoration of the artefacts to be exhibited has started.

4. The Executive Board at its 192nd session thanked the Director-General for her efforts to implement previous UNESCO decisions on Jerusalem and asked her to maintain and reinvigorate such efforts. The reactive monitoring mission to the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls by the World Heritage Centre, ICCROM and ICOMOS which originally was scheduled from 20 to 25 May 2013 could not take place, failing the agreement of the concerned parties over the terms of reference for such a mission.

5. During the 37th session of the World Heritage Committee (Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 17-27 June 2013), Decision 37 COM 7A.26 on the state of conservation of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls, inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger, was adopted following a roll-call vote, deploring inter alia that the mission had not taken place. Furthermore, the decision requested Israeli authorities to halt archaeological excavations and to desist from implementing projects planned in and around the Old City of Jerusalem, in particular with regard to the cable car system, the visitors’ centre on the Givati parking lot and building projects at the Western Wall Plaza.

6. The state of conservation reports on the World Heritage property of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls were received by the World Heritage Centre by the statutory deadline of 1 February 2014 to prepare the working documents for review by the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee (Doha, June 2014).

7. Should additional information become available to the Secretariat, the Director-General is prepared to publish an addendum to this document before the 194th session of the Executive Board in order to inform the Members of the Executive Board of any new developments in that regard.

__________