In February 2018, a joint UNESCO/ICOMOS/ICOMOS reactive monitoring mission will take place to the World Heritage property “Historical Monuments of Mtskheta” (Georgia), as requested by the World Heritage Committee to assess current conditions at the property.

The World Heritage property of the Historical Monuments of Mtskheta was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1994 and on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2009.

In this context, the Georgian authorities developed reinforced collaboration with the World Heritage Centre through the signature, in October 2015, of an agreement for technical assistance by UNESCO to Georgia within the framework of a project “Cultural Heritage Advisory Service to the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation (NACHP)” financially supported by the World Bank.

This technical assistance, primarily intended to lead to removing the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger, had larger objectives: to enhance the institutional and technical capacity of the national and local authorities, to ensure cross-institutional collaboration, and to ensure long-term planning and the reinforcement of management mechanisms and capacities required to deal with the integration and sustainable implementation of heritage protection and development needs.

In 2016, by Decision 40 COM 7A.29, the World Heritage Committee decided to remove the Historical Monuments of Mtskheta (Georgia) from the List of World Heritage in Danger, welcoming the important work and commitment by the State Party and noting the measures taken by the authorities to guarantee protection of the property.

The World Heritage Centre is closely following the state of conservation of the property in collaboration with the Georgian authorities and relevant stakeholders, including the representatives of the Patriarchate of Georgia.

The World Heritage Committee will review the state of conservation of this property, based on the findings of the UNESCO advisory assistance and the forthcoming reactive monitoring mission, at its 42nd session in 2018.