6319 sites throughout Georgia could lose status

Implementing amendments to the Cultural Heritage Law may result in removal of status from 6319 monuments, Nato Tsintsabadze, secretary general of ICOMOS Georgia (Georgian National Committee of International Council on Monuments and Sites) said at todays press conference. According to her, 6803 monuments are registered in the state registry. 484 of these are of national importance and 6319 of local significance. As Tsintsabadze explained, this means that upon implementing the amendments, only 484 sites will be promoted and protected by the law and the rest of the others may lose their status. In the list of the sites being in danger of losing their status are Borjomi National Park, Uraveli Monastery, The Romanov Palace in Abastumani, Beberi Fortress in Mtskheta. Also, National Library, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Opera House, Rustaveli Theatre, Narikala, Marjanishvili Theatre, Observatory, Baths, Kashueti and Sioni Churchs, Mtatsminda Pantheon and other buildings in Tbilisi. Amendments to the law are in connection with the territory around the St. Michael Hospital since there is an investor interested in purchasing it. The investor demands to remove sites status from the buildings around the hospital in order to be able to destroy them. Tsintsabadze says this would be illegal. The amendments to the Cultural Heritage law are initiated by the Ministry of Economy. According to the amendments, the process of removal of the status of the sites and monuments has to be simplified.

As the Ministry of Economy explains, according to the current edition of the law, the reason for removal of cultural heritage status from a monument may be loss of those main characteristics revealed by scientific criteria upon which it was awarded with the status.

"Several sites were awarded with the status of cultural heritage with ignorance of the scientific criteria and assessment during previous years. One of the clear examples of this was the 30 March, 2006 decree of the Minister of Culture and Monument Protection according to which 4075 sites have been awarded with the status of monument without any scientific justification, reads an official statement of the Ministry.

The Ministry argues that removal of the status from this kind of monument is complicated as there is need of a relevant conclusion provided by the Council. While the council itself is unable to check or compare those circumstances and grounds upon which the monument was granted with a status of its time.

"Proposed amendments imply that in case there will be a need of state and public importance, removal of the status will be possible in agreement with the Ministry of Culture. What is more important, the issue will be submitted to the government of Georgia which before the final decision will consider the complexity of the issue, assess its state and public significance, possible economic effects and removal of the status, explains the Ministry of Economy supporting that inclusion of the Ministry of Culture in the process excludes chances for ignorance of the cultural and scientific value of the monument.

Since investments attraction and improvement of the investment environment remains a major priority and commitment of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, they believe that timely and adequate regulation of the above mentioned issue should be a major task not only for them, but also for the Ministry of Culture.