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Historic urban landscape

The analysis and evaluation of the state of the historic urban landscape are elaborated as a result of the recommended on the 34th Session of the World Heritage Committee monitoring and research of the urban fabric.

The following positive aspects of the present state could be pointed out:

  • The general configuration of the urban landscape has not undergone considerable transformation. Positive fact is the strengthening of the sea-shores, as it prevented large-scale landslides of the shore with unforeseen consequences for the property.

  • The Ancient City of Nessebar has not lost its characteristics of a multilayered town – even more, during the archaeological excavations in 1983 were discovered new sites enriching the historic stratification;

  • In the town fabric there are no strong and irreversible conflicts, caused by super-scale, multi-storey or definitely inadequate from architectural point buildings.

  • The continuity in the character of traditional street directions and public spaces is almost completely preserved; some measures have been taken to improve the accessibility of the environment.

  • The relations of the town with the natural environment have been improved with the construction of panoramic coastal alley; the traditional green areas and vegetation have been preserved;

  • The characteristic of the main urban silhouettes is more or less preserved, without dramatic deformations in scale or line of development;

  • Some traditional urban functions have been preserved; there are no principally inadequate actions that are in irreversible contradiction with the functional characteristics of the property. The Municipality carries out initiatives for encouraging of local crafts, feasts and traditions.

Along with that are observed the following negative processes disturbing the urban landscape that threaten the outstanding universal value of the property:

  • The coast protection equipments along with the positive effect have caused urbanisation of the sea-shores (superstructures, invasion in the sea with equipments, massive car park along the north coast, etc.), that takes away the landscape authenticity of the shore and disturbs the traditional links of the town with the sea.

  • As a result of the above-mentioned inharmonious changes in the sites of vernacular architecture are observed serious destructions of the urban fabric by raising the density and number of storeys, appearance of new inappropriate construction, disturbance in the environment around key heritage sites.

  • The extra number of storeys of the building sites disturbs some urban silhouettes, compromises the compositional role of the churches of St. John Aleitourgitos and The Assumption and at some points creates visual barriers from inside the town to the sea;

  • During the tourist season the public spaces are disturbed, due to the glutting with retail sites, advertisements, umbrellas, etc., which hide the architecture of the Ancient City. The functional structuring of the town and development of tourism do not consider the intangible heritage. The concentration of service and transport functions in the reception zone crates discomfort in front of the main approach to the property – the Gate.

  • The peripheral western areas of the buffer zone on the mainland are already entirely built-up in contradiction with the requirements for a buffer zone of the property, according to the Guidelines.

  • There are newly-built sites in the property that, though legal, do not correspond to the outstanding universal value of the property.