UNESCO mission arrives in Odesa to check integrity of world cultural heritage

This was reported by the Odesa City Council in Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

The purpose of the joint mission of the UNESCO World Heritage Center and ICOMOS is to assess the general condition of the World Cultural Heritage Site, as well as to assess the implementation of the recommendations made by the World Heritage Committee when inscribing the historic center of Odesa on the World Heritage List.

“One of these recommendations was to preserve the World Heritage Site unchanged. In particular, the attributes of universal value, factors and problems of preserving the site, including the conditions of its integrity, protection and management, will be identified. As it was noted during the meeting, sometimes they are objective and caused by the war, and in some cases - as a result of emotions and political factors,” the city council said.

The mayor's office also noted that the monitoring mission was supposed to arrive in Odesa in 2023, but the visit was postponed due to the increased intensity of shelling.

Currently, the mission will work in Odesa for several days.

The city council also emphasized that in the almost three years of war, Russia has carried out about 10 large-scale attacks on the territory of the World Heritage Site and its buffer zone. In total, about 170 cultural heritage sites in Odesa have already suffered varying degrees of damage.

As reported by Ukrinform, as a result of a missile strike on the center of Odesa on the evening of January 31, about 15 cultural heritage monuments, including the Philharmonic building, sustained varying degrees of damage. The main damage was broken window panes and displaced carpentry.