Sixth Expert Working Group for the Preservation of the Bamiyan Site

20-22 January 2008

the Sixth Expert Working Group for the Preservation of the Bamiyan Site is organized by UNESCO (Kabul Office in close collaboration with WHC) and National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Japan (NRICP) inTokyo from 20 to 22 January 2008

Within the framework of Japanese Funds-in Trust project for the Safeguarding Bamiyan site, much progress has been made thus far through the combined efforts of different organizations and individuals, including the Afghan authorities, international experts and UNESCO.

Considering the fact that generous contribution from the Government of Japan continues from 2008 for three years within the framework of phase III project, further emergency conservation activities must be coordinated and implemented in order to allow the completion of the important safeguarding intervention at this World Heritage site in Danger to ensure the site sustainability.

For this objective, it is of the utmost importance to organize an internal meeting between UNESCO and key international experts for monitoring and evaluation of the project and in order to set future priority actions for 2008. Upon reaching a consensus on the technical intervention methods for sustainable management of the cultural heritage site of Bamiyan between UNESCO and these key international experts, UNESCO will draft the recommendations to submit and discuss with the Government of Afghanistan for its approval.

Draft Agenda

1- Conservation of mural paintings

Progress in the conservation of mural paintings achieved in 2007 and in the training development for the Afghan officials as well as future intervention plan

2- Archaeological investigations

Archaeological survey achieved in 2007 and future actions

3- Conservation and documentation of the fragments of the Giant Buddha statues and future actions

Progress achieved in 2007 and future actions for conservation of the fragments of the Giant Buddha statues
Progress achieved in 2007 of the geophysical assessment and analysis of a back-wall of the Eastern Buddha niche

4- Emergency consolidation of the Giant Buddha niches and cliffs

Installation of a Permanent and Sustainable, Manual Monitoring System at the Buddha niches and future actions on the emergency consolidation measures for the niches, their back-walls and cliffs
Current status of back-walls of both niches and future interventions for their stabilization

5- Identification of on-going threats to the Bamiyan Site and potential remedies, measures and solutions

Decisions of the 31st Session of the World Heritage Committee concerning the State of Conservation of the Archaeological Remains and the Cultural Landscape of the Bamiyan Valley World Heritage site and benchmarks settings for corrective measures and related timeframe for the possible removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger
Current overall capacity-development activities for Afghan professionals

6- Long-term conservation planning for Bamiyan: Implementation of the Cultural Masterplan and completion of the Draft World Heritage Management Plan for the Archaeological Remains and the Cultural Landscape of the Bamiyan Valley

Outcomes of the workshop in Bamiyan in July 2007 for the presentation and implementation of the Bamiyan Cultural Masterplan
Implementation status of Cultural Masterplan for comprehensive protection of the site
Execution status of the final draft of the World Heritage Management Plan for the Afghan Government

List of Participants

International experts (by alphabetical order)

Pr Michael Jansen, Director of the Dept Urban History, RWTH Aachen University/ICOMOS Germany
Pr Kosaku Maeda, Visiting Researcher, NRICP
Pr Claudio Margottini, Geophysical Engineer, University of Modena
Pr Michael Petzet, President of ICOMOS
Mr Georgios Toubekis, Conservation Architect, Aachen University/ICOMOS Germany
Mr Kazuya Yamauchi, Head of Regional Environmental Section, NRICP

UNESCO

UNESCO Kabul Office