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UNESCO Lists Ancient Chersonesos in Temporarily Occupied Crimea as a World Heritage Site in Danger
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UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee has added the Ancient City of Tauric Chersonese and its Chora in temporarily occupied Crimea to the List of World Heritage in Danger, according to Ukrinform on July 23.
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UNESCO determined the site faces serious threats to the features that make it globally significant.
Satellite analysis conducted by UNESCO and UNITAR/UNOSAT identified significant damage across the property linked to new construction and large-scale archaeological excavations.
The organization noted that the situation is further complicated by Ukraine’s inability to access the site and carry out its responsibilities for its protection, conservation, and management, leaving the property exposed to long-term threats.
The site includes the remains of a city founded by Dorian Greeks in the fifth century BCE on the northern Black Sea coast, along with its surrounding agricultural territory.
UNESCO describes it as exceptional evidence of interaction among Greek, Roman, and Byzantine communities and of a trading center that connected Black Sea routes for nearly 2,000 years.
Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy and Culture Minister Tetiana Berezhna said the decision was adopted during the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee in Busan, South Korea.
“This is an extremely important international decision that officially confirms the threats to the monument caused by the temporary Russian occupation of Crimea, illegal excavations, construction, the destruction of archaeological context, and the removal of cultural property,” Berezhna wrote on Facebook.
According to Berezhna, the committee called for an end to activities that could further damage cultural heritage sites in temporarily occupied Crimea and urged stronger measures to combat the illicit trafficking of cultural property.
Poland, Czechia, and Switzerland openly supported Ukraine during the discussion, according to Ukrinform.
Development on protected archaeological land in Crimea has been repeatedly documented since Russia occupied the peninsula in 2014.
Earlier this year, the occupation authorities in Sevastopol reduced the protected boundaries of the Northern Settlement of the Chembalo Fortress, a medieval site near the Genoese fortress in Balaklava, clearing land for a luxury hotel linked to Russian billionaires Boris and Arkady Rotenberg.
Archaeologists excavated 245 square meters, including 211 square meters within the officially protected perimeter, and recovered more than 2,000 ceramic fragments dating from the 14th to the 18th centuries before the area was removed from the register of archaeological monuments.
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