The World Heritage Centre’s approaches to the conservation of New Gourna Village, and the assessment of its authenticity and integrity

Abstract

New Gourna Village, which is located inside one of the World Heritage Sites in Egypt, has never been recognized as an element contributing to the site’s Outstanding Universal Value. The recognition of the village as a contributing element is reliant on the successful assessment of its authenticity and integrity. Responding to the dramatically declining integrity of the village, the World Heritage Centre has carried out an architectural study to guide the potential conservation works in the property. The study has recommended that a group of objectives and two approaches to the conservation of the village should be adopted. One of these two approaches has been concerned with the conservation of the village according to the architect’s original intentions and principles. The previous approach can be called the principles-based approach. The main aim of this study was to examine the agreement of the World Heritage Centre’s objectives and their proposed principles-based approach to the conservation of the village with the aim to improve its chance in meeting the conditions of authenticity and integrity. The study approached the previous aim by assessing, by means of a proposed methodology; the level of significance, authenticity and integrity of the property. Based on the previous assessment, a list of conservation interventions was proposed to improve the property’s chance in meeting the conditions of authenticity and integrity. Finally, the World Heritage Centre’s recommended approaches and objectives were examined against the previous proposed conservation interventions. The findings indicated the possibility to adopt the principles-based approach to the conservation of New Gourna Village, as well as the other World Heritage Centre’s objectives, without limiting the property’s chance in meeting the conditions of authenticity and integrity. The study recommends to carry out further studies that are concerned with the identification of the architect’s philosophy and architectural principles that should be the key reference of all the potential conservation interventions in the village.