Living Religious and Sacred World Heritage in a Historic Urban Context ans its Surrounding Landscape

The UNESCO World Heritage Initiative of religious interest has organized a new international meeting of experts, this time in Tiblissi (Georgia). The main issue to be debated was the conservation of holy or holy cities, in their natural or scenic surroundings, from the case study of Mtskheta, the historic and spiritual capital of Georgia, located in the confluence of two rivers, in a beautiful mountainous landscape. By 2017 it was agreed to expand the buffer zone (up to ca. 2380 ha) to be able to include the beautiful cultural landscape, with important historical, symbolic and religious links to the functional.

The cases of Jerusalem and other world heritage sites inspired by the same concept, such as Kalwaria Zebrydowska (Poland) and Solovetsky (Russian Federation), were also presented and discussed.

The meeting was coordinated by Anna Sidorenko (UNESCO), with the collaboration of the management team of the Initiative: Christopher Young and Mike Turner (ICOMOS), Rii Hae Un (PRERICO-ICOMOS) and Josep-Maria Mallarach (IUCN); and had the support of the Apostolic Patriacat of Georgia and the active implication of the Department of Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia.

More information:  http://whc.unesco.org/en/events/1485