CULTURAL HERITAGE PROJECT GEORGIA
Georgia, located to the west of the Black Sea, was one of the republics of the former USSR. Since 1991, Georgia has enjoyed its independence. Under Soviet government, Georgia was one of the leading republics in the field of conservation due to its rich culture and its diversity of heritage monuments. Furthermore, the Georgian people have a special attitude towards their cultural heritage - as one of the most prominent Georgian scholars put it: "In fact, Georgia has not had a political history during the last two centuries but rather a cultural history". Consequently, the appreciation of cultural heritage is essential and important in Georgia.. Conservation was very popular during the seventies and eighties. The major body in the field of conservation was the Main Board for Monuments Protection. This body was responsible for the entire spectrum of a monument’s preservation (state policy, priorities, commission, implementation, control) and was entirely financed by the state. This used to be a common situation in the Soviet management system. This situation changed dramatically when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The entire system of the socialist economy, including its management tools, vanished. Due to the scarcity of resources, the government has been unable to budget for all the works in the area of conservation (or for other spheres of life) as it used to in the Soviet period. Georgia is currently in a so-called "transition-period", and is trying to build a new state on the values of democracy, human rights and is moving towards market economy. This is an ambitious as well as a difficult undertaking. Due to the immense difficulties in this transition period, many spheres of the country's life are in deep stagnation. While Georgia’s economy and industry are affected it is the social and cultural spheres which suffer the most. The Main Board for Monuments Protection still exists but its effectiveness has been drastically reduced because of the still predominant Socialist style of its management. In response to this situation the Government of Georgia (GoG) decided to apply to the World Bank (WB) for assistance to create a new system for the cultural heritage management. At this point, in 1996, the appeal of Georgian Government reached the WB, which reacted positively and allocated the Institutional Development Fund (IDF) grant (432.000 US$) for structural reforms in the field of cultural heritage preservation. Thus, the Cultural Heritage Initiative (CHI) - a joint programme by the World Bank and the Government of Georgia - was set up by the Georgian President, E. Shevardnadze. The Department of the Cultural Heritage of the Council of Europe (CoE), soon joined the programme, with its Specific Action Plan (SAP) for Georgia. This is the first time that the WB has financed a programme which aims to prepare structural changes for cultural heritage management on a national level. Before this programme was implemented, the WB financed only specific projects, or maximum number of projects on a city/municipality level. The association of the WB with the CoE in this endeavour joins the excellent expertise of the CoE with the financial viability of the WB. The Georgian Government and President Shevardnadze himself showed a vivid interest and a commitment towards the CHI programme and its implementation. This was once again demonstrated during the European summit in Strasbourg (1997), where President Shevardnadze's speech was devoted mainly to cultural dimensions and the preservation of cultural diversity in Europe. He invited the CoE countries to the international conference "Cultural Heritage, Democracy and Market Economy" which would be held in Georgia. Consequently, Georgia has become the leading post-Soviet country in the preservation of cultural heritage and probably also in developing and third-world countries. Thus, the Government of Georgia, the World Bank and the Council of Europe decided to continue the CHI programme for next three years. The mandate of CHI programme was extended. CHI was re-established as Cultural Heritage Preservation Fund (CHPF), and it was reorganised into a Project Implementation Unit (PIU). The WB's appraisal mission visited Georgia in December 1997. During this mission a Project Appraisal Document (PAD) was prepared, on bases of which GoG and the WB signed Legal Agreement on 18 February, 1998 according to which Learning and Innovation Loan (LIL) in amount of 4,49 Millions USD was allocated. Under the new project the works will be executed at pilot sites for testing already developed methods and approaches. For details of the new project refer to the Operation Manual.
CHPF contact person:
The page is designed by Kakha
Khimshiashvili, Technical Director, CHPF |
