Culture minister: some damage to Gelati UNESCO site frescoes "irreversible"
The St Mary Temple of the Gelati Monastery Complex suffered rainwater leaks through a newly installed roof tiling last summer, sparking an investigation and frantic work for safeguarding its interior. Photo: Tata Kachkachishvili/Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
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Some damage caused to frescoes at western Georgia's UNESCO World Heritage Site of Gelati by rainwater leaks will be irreversible, Thea Tsulukiani, the Minister of Culture, Sport and Youth of Georgia, said on Friday, as she also revealed an ongoing investigation into the causes of the botched rehabilitation at the complex.
Tsulukiani was speaking to reporters about measures being taken by her ministry to rectify the damage on the monument following last year's revelations of rainwater leaks into St Mary Temple - the principal part of the complex - through a newly installed roof tiling and subsequent problems with safeguarding the interior while a new solution to the roof is found.
The minister revealed to the local press a consensus on measures of restoration and conservation of the frescoes affected by the leaks had been reached "several days ago" after the ministry had facilitated rounds of talks between professionals of the field.
It is regrettable, but it is the reality - the specialists themselves have told us at our meeting that in some cases, the damage [to the frescoes] will be irreversible. However, in cases where the damage is not irreversible, we will need to carry out conservation work
- Thea Tsulukiani, the Minister of Culture, Sport and Youth of Georgia
Tsulukiani said there had been a disagreement among the experts about how to proceed with the conservation, but at a recent meeting hosted by the ministry this week the professionals had finally reached an agreement on the measures. Both Georgian and foreign conservation experts are involved in the project, the minister added.
One of the interior frescoes in the monastery reportedly damaged due to rainwater leaks penetrating the roof of the building. Photo: Tata Kachkachishvili/Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
The head of the culture ministry - who started her work on the position in March - also revealed to the reporters "quite a large-scale" investigation into the issues of the rehabilitation work on Gelati was ongoing by the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia.
The culture minister was quoted last week for calling the entire 2008-2020 rehabilitation work on Gelati Monastery Complex a "big mistake" and an "experiment" that has proved "damaging" to the major monument of cultural heritage.
Rainwater leaks into St Mary Temple were reported in July 2020, sparking frantic work on safeguarding the site as well as criticism from independent experts. The National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation later fined and replaced the contractor company in January, while a lack of local professionals for monument rehabilitation was later cited both by the agency and the ministry as a cause of the problems around Gelati.
Also in January, Ana Natsvlishvili, one of the leaders of the Lelo opposition party, asked the prosecutor's office of the country to launch an investigation into possible "wrongful rehabilitation" process around the monument.
Ana Natsvlishvili, one of the leaders of the Lelo opposition party in Georgia, has asked the prosecutor's office of the country to launch an investigation into possible "wrongful rehabilitation" process of the UNESCO-listed Gelati Monastery Complex by state cultural organisations.
Professionals from the UNESCO World Heritage Centre will visit Georgia to issue recommendations on the ongoing rehabilitation of the Gelati Monastery Complex, following a fraught work on the site that resulted in damage to its newly installed roof and rainwater leaks last year.
Only 16 percent of roof tiling of the Gelati UNESCO World Heritage Site has been damaged by adverse weather as repair works are ongoing at the site, Nikoloz Antidze, General Director of the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia, said in comments to media on Friday.
The organisation involved in rehabilitation works on western Georgia's Gelati Monastery Complex has said damage to roof tiling of the monument, which led to rainwater leakage reported last week, was "impossible to predict", with planning for fixing the damage still ongoing.
The National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation has fined and replaced the company working on the ongoing rehabilitation of the Gelati Monastery Complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the country's west, for failing to fix deficiencies in the work.
Thea Tsulukiani, the Minister of Culture, Sport and Youth of Georgia, has called the 2008-2020 rehabilitation work on Gelati Monastery Complex in the country's west a "big mistake" and an "experiment" that has proved "damaging" to the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Frescoes of the interior of the Gelati monastery complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Georgia's west, are "in very bad condition", experts from the global body have said at the first press conference following the start of their work to study damage caused to the monument.
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has lamented the "fragile state of conservation" of the Gelati monument in Georgia's west, calling on the Georgian government to implement a solution for safeguarding the monastery from precipitation via a "workable solution" and requesting international assistance for implementing measures for improving its conservation state.
Plans are in motion to ensure initial preventive work on Gelati complex, a UNESCO World Heritage monument in Georgia's west, before the onset of precipitation during fall season, Georgia's culture minister Thea Tsulukiani said on Friday. Tsulukiani announced the intention while speaking in the wake of the most recent developments around the monastery complex - the publication of a UNESCO World Heritage Committee document and reports by working groups studying the site and involving experts from the international body.
The Georgian Ministry of Culture on Tuesday responded to a report by the National Research Centre for Georgian Art History and Heritage Preservation that had pointed to the process of conservation at western Georgia’s Gelati complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, being “centralised” and “non-transparent” and the works being carried out through “extreme methodological violations”, by calling it “politically motivated”.
A report involving experts from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, the International Council on Monuments and Sites and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property has lamented the absence of a general project for conservation works on the Gelati World Heritage Site in Georgia's west, and urged authorities to ensure more communication with local stakeholders over ongoing issues at the monument.