site.btaProposal to Designate Nessebar as Heritage at Risk Will Be Voted in Riyadh in September

The 45th session of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee will take place in Riyadh September, when a proposal to enter Nessebar on the Heritage at Rosk List will be voted, the local authorities in Nessebar said.
 
In July a report by the International Council on Monuments and Sites made the proposal after Bulgaria failed to implement earlier recommendations for preservation of the authenticity of the ancient town. 
 
One of the requirements is the removal of the port and the marina facilities beyond the limits of the peninsula where the old town is located. 
 
The report of the mission was submitted to the Culture Ministry on May 18, 2023. 

This recommendation was considered unacceptable because the port fulfils a function that is traditional to Nessebar and had existed before the Old Town was designated as World Heritage in 1983, the Nessebar Town Hall argues. 

The local authorities add that the Maritime Administration objects to the recommendation as the ports in the town have sustained the livelihood of the local community for a long time and are part of the history of the peninsula. The removal of the ports would disrupt the life of the local population and its millennia-old connection with the sea.   
 
The latest IKOMOS monitoring report also names the lack of a plan for the preservation and management of Nessebar as a world heritage town. 
 
However, the local authorities argue that the report did not take into consideration a number of projects implemented to preserve and restore the medieval churches as well as future projects, laid out in the plans of Nessebar Municipality for management of the old town.  

„Nessebar will keep its status as World Heritage site. The measure to designate World Heritage sites at risk aims to preserve cultural heritage. The historical centre of Vienna is currently on this list. Designating Venice as Heritage at risk will also be on the agenda in Riyadh, along with other historical, archaeological and natural phenomena from all over the world.  I believe that Nessebar will never lose its status of World Heritage site, but the public, the central and local authorities should realize that our most important role is of guardians of a unique landmark with no cultural parallels,” wrote Nessebar Mayor Nikolay Dimitrov.