A joint mission from the UNESCO World Heritage Center and ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) is on an official visit to Odessa.
This was reported by the Odesa City Council on Telegram.
"We are finally pleased to meet you in your city. Our mission is to collect information and conduct consultations to align the next steps in creating framework solutions and recommendations for preserving the attributes of the World Cultural Heritage site from all types of threats," greeted Odesa's mayor by Ms. Berta de San Cristóbal, Head of the Europe and North America Department at the UNESCO World Heritage Center.
The purpose of the joint mission of the UNESCO World Heritage Center and ICOMOS is to assess the overall condition of the World Cultural Heritage site and evaluate the implementation of recommendations provided by the World Heritage Committee when Odessa’s historic center was added to the World Heritage List.
"One of these recommendations was to preserve the heritage site in its unchanged form. In particular, the mission will identify attributes of universal value, factors, and challenges in preserving the site, including its integrity, protection, and management conditions. As noted during the meeting, some of these issues are objective and caused by the war, while others result from emotions and political factors," the city council stated.
The council also noted that the monitoring mission was originally scheduled to visit Odessa in 2023, but the trip was postponed due to increased attacks.
The mission will now operate in Odessa for several days. The city council emphasized that in nearly three years of war, Russian forces have carried out around 10 large-scale attacks on the World Heritage site and its buffer zone. In total, about 170 cultural heritage landmarks in Odessa have sustained varying degrees of damage.
