As someone for whom even 10 minutes at an "Island Resort", however luxurious, would be "boring purgatory", the Maldives have been resolutely left off my "destination wish list" for over 60 years – and will remain so!! An unfortunate by-product of this of course is that I haven't, and never will, see the "Coral Mosques of the Maldives", so the question posed by Durian in a forum post about the 2022/23 WHC papers - "Future of Coral Stone Mosques of the Maldives?" seemed an opportunity at least to discover more and make a "proxy visit"!

Why then has UNESCO made this "proposed decision" in its WHC papers and where might any future Nomination proposal stand as a result? To obtain an answer I have established the history of the Maldivian T List and nominations as follows –

1. The Maldives acceded to the WH Convention in 1986 and, no doubt with much hope and anticipation, made 5 nominations to the 1988 WHC - 4 separate Mosques (Malé Friday, Malé Eid, Fenfushi and Vaadhoo Friday) and the Utheemu Gaduvaru (Palace/home of Maldivian hero Sultan Mohamed Thakurufaanu). All were deferred by the WHC Bureau for "insufficiency of documentation" and to "encourage..reformulation" of the nomination. ......thus setting in train an unfinished saga of 35 years and counting!!!

2. There followed a period with little apparent progress. A governmental organisation titled the "National Council for Linguistic and Historical Research" (dissolved in 2010 when all "the functions of the Centre related to culture, tradition and conservation of historic monuments were assigned to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture" which was perhaps a stimulus for more activity on the T List thereafter) did produce a report around 2003 containing an inventory of Cultural and Natural properties in the Maldives and reported it to UNESCO here. The UNESCO document states "12 sites have been included on the Maldives Tentative List, revised in 2003." But WHC documents indicate that the Maldives didn't have an official T List until 12/2/2008 and that consisted solely of "Malé Hukuru Miskiy/enclosing cemetery and Minaret" - so the reported 2003 action for a T List of 12 sites doesn't appear officially to have been registered. The 12 which are referred to are listed at the end of the inventory and consist of a mixture of individual mosques, miscellaneous tombs/shrines and even the National Museum - not a very impressive list, so it is hardly surprising that it got ignored pending an improved proposal!

3 The next development of the Maldivian T List took place in 2013. The "UNESCO country programming document, the Maldives, 2014-2017" states (page 17) that "In 2007, the Maldives submitted a coral stone mosque of Male (Friday mosque) under the Tentative List of World Heritage Convention for possible future nomination. Further to UNESCO recommendations to pursue a serial nomination, the Government of Maldives submitted a revised Tentative List in 2013, expanding the scope of nomination from one mosque to a series of six old coral stone mosques". It would seem that this change took place as a result of a 2011 UNESCO funded project, badged as a "Pilot Project for Upstream Process" (for which 10 possible sites worldwide were chosen, including the Maldivian mosques) - "Preparatory assistance for Serial Nomination of "Coral Stone Mosques of Maldives" This project was reported in 2014 as having been completed .

4. So, in 2013, the Maldives had a single T List entry consisting of 6 Mosques (Ihavandhoo Friday Mosque
Meedhoo Friday, Malé Friday (a.k.a "Hukuru Miskiy"), Malé Eid, Fenfushi Friday and Isdhoo Old). However, it was then followed by a 2nd UNESCO project initiated at the July 2015 WHC - "Further survey on construction techniques of Coral Stone Mosques towards the identification of OUV, comparative analysis and review of the choice of mosques for WH nomination" (my bold). But I can find no report regarding progress on, or completion of, this and it would seem that the comment in the 2022/23 WHC papers "No further progress has been reported for this project since the end of 2019. Consequently, the World Heritage Centre proposes the phasing out of this Pilot Project," refers to it.

5. Next, the Maldives rather surprisingly turned to the WMF for assistance with a project described on its Web site thus - "In 2019, the Maldives government asked WMF to assist in preparing a nomination file for submission to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre for listing of the coral stone mosques of Maldives as a World Heritage site. This listing will secure the mosques' status in law, protecting them from development pressures, and will help promote the country's heritage at home and abroad. It is also an opportunity to raise international awareness of the impacts of climate change on cultural heritage."

6. So this project involving the WMF took place AFTER the (2nd) "Pilot Project" referred to in the 22/3 WHC papers, had been authorized in 2015 but without any reported conclusion! Involvement of WMF in purely "administrative" projects like this doesn't seem to be "usual" let alone one so closely tied to preparing a nomination. Quite why the Maldives switched across from getting assistance from UNESCO to doing so with WMF and what the results were (if any) of the 2nd UNESCO project isn't clear. I conclude however, that the upcoming "decision" to "phase out" the upstream "Pilot Project" is more of a "tidying up exercise" for a project which had never officially been concluded, and a recognition that matters had "moved on", than an indication that UNESCO is wiping its hands of the site and certainly not that the Maldives were not progressing matters..

7. Further progress on the Coral Mosques was evidenced in May 2020 when a rather fine Web site, funded by the EU, titled "The Coral Stone Mosques of the Madives" was launched. It currently lists 6 mosques as being "Planned for UNESCO Nomination" and also contains information on another 20 historic Coral Stone mosques. There is however an issue - the 6 mosques it lists are NOT as per the current T List but include one titled "Hulhumeedhoo Fandiyaru Mosque"!! (Also, as far as I can make out, given the problems of alternative spellings, the Vaadhoo Mosque, originally nominated in 1988 is neither in the 6 now on the T List NOR among the other 20 documented ones on this Web site. Why that might be when it was once considered "good enough" to nominate isn't clear,)

8. This further complication is confirmed within the detail of another WMF project in the Maldives – "Koagannu Mosques and Cemetery" badged under the "2022 World Monument Watch" and last updated Mar 2022. It states "Koagannu Cemetery and its mosques are currently under consideration for World Heritage status, along with five other mosques across the country, under the name Coral Stone Mosques of Maldives." But "Koagannu Mosques and Cemetery" is NOT on of the current "official" 6 T List mosques. In fact, it primarily seems to be a "cemetery" since it constitutes the "oldest and largest burial ground on the island nation......... its earliest beginnings in the twelfth century CE with the construction of the first mosque in Maldives soon after the advent of Islam to the region. The surrounding cemetery dates from the subsequent centuries and comprises some 1,500 tombstones, mausolea and additional mosques". The role of WMF in this project is stated to be "to support documentation and a condition assessment of the tombstones and historic structures of Koagannu, reverse inappropriate interventions to the surviving mosques, and build local capacity in maintenance that will contribute to the long-term preservation of the cemetery". I can find no official indication that it has "finished"

9. Koagannu's status regarding the current Coral mosques of the Maldives T List entry becomes clearer in this report from July 8 2022 by the "Maritime Asia Heritage Society" which states "It is now planned to be added to the existing UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on Coral Stone Mosques of Maldives". It seems that there are 6 mosques within the Koagannu "cemetery complex", and 1 of them, Fandiyaru, is the one identified on the Coral Mosques Web site as being for nomination. Another - Boadha, is among the other 20 Coral Stone mosques described there. The other 2 mosques on the site are not specifically listed but the main "Value" to be added would seem to relate to its totality rather than to any of its individual mosques. Its location is at -0.581019, 73.228616

Continued from previous post

10. So, it seems to be the intention to "add" the site of Koagannu with its cemetery and multiple mosques to the current T List entry. However the WMF states (above) "along with 5 other mosques" - yet the documented T List site already consists of 6!! How can that be? The answer seems to lie in the text "hidden" away within the WMF description of its FIRST project (para 5) that the project also included "developing a site management plan as part of the UNESCO World Heritage nomination for six coral stone mosques: Ihavandhoo Friday Mosque, Meedhoo Friday Mosque, Malé Friday Mosque, Fenfushi Friday Mosque, Isdhoo Old Mosque, and Koagannu Cemetery and Mosque" (my bold) adding that "These six mosques are considered the most historically, artistically, and technically significant examples of this typology of architecture". So - the first WMF project, whose Web site was last updated in July 2021, would seem to have had concluded (or accepted) that the nominated site ought to include the Koagannu cemetery/mosque complex. The WMF then appears to have started another project solely related to Koagannu under the assumption that the site was being prepared for addition to the T List of The Maldives. And which Mosque currently on the T List which has been removed in order to maintain the count of locations at 6?? The Malé Eid Mosque!

11. Why might the Malé Eid Mosque be removed? Presumably the T List locations could be expanded to 7 if justified? The Coral Mosques Web site states "Malé Eid Mosque was built in 1810 replacing an older mosque built during the reign of Sultan Imaduddin (1704-1720) and continues its use as a mosque till today. It is the last of the coral stone mosque and has the best ornamentation and craftsmanship of all the mosques in the country. Over the period of time mosque compound has been reduced drastically and extensions have been added to the mosque, but the old mosque building is retained well." So, whilst it might be newer than the other Mosques, the claim (when the mosque was intended for inclusion!) was that its ornamentation is "superior". If that is the case then to remove it might be considered by ICOMOS to be cutting off the full story of Coral mosques at its apogee? So, why do it?

12. The only clue I have been able to discover is a comment in this report from May 2019 "Despite all of the solid technical work undertaken by Maldivian officials and supported by foreign experts, the preparations have been stalled for the last couple of years for reasons that are rather unclear. Some apparently feared that the designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site would hinder economic development in the zone immediately adjacent to the mosques, and they had quietly put the brakes on the project". Could it be that the Eid mosque area within the heavily built areas of the city is earmarked for such development?

13. Whatever - the overall conclusions seem to be
a. The lengthy and so far, unsuccessful, history of the Maldivian T List is significantly attributable to the "normal" organizational and skill-related issues faced by a small "Developing" state. The Maldives are actually categorized as a "middle income country" but it has faced numerous "political" crises across the period. It has at least, since 2011, sought external assistance to bring about a successful nomination.
b. The upcoming "ending" of the 2015 UNESCO Pilot project doesn't, in any way, indicate the end of the site's WHS quest
c. The latest reasons for delay seem to involve debate about which sites should be included, with factors such as genuine consideration of which sites best capture the OUV, objections to the restrictions on development which might follow inscription and, possibly, individual island pride (Koagannu is situated on the southernmost and otherwise unrepresented, Addu Atoll with the Maldives' second largest "city") all potentially coming into play.
d. The site could expect a fast track to inscription once the Maldives gets its act together. The significant involvement of WMF indicates the site's inherent value, the reality that it would seem to be the Maldives' best chance of a WHS (thus meeting a UNESCO objective) and the site's importance an example of a World wide "heritage issue" namely sea level rise - "this would be the first World Heritage site in the country, an honor that would bring international attention to the plight of heritage places in Maldives and other low-lying island states".

14. Finally it might be worth mentioning that, among all the many Web searches I have made on words such as "Maldives" and "World Heritage" etc, I have come across none which indicate that the Maldives might have even considered developing a "Natural" site for WH nomination. However, during all this time whilst the Coral mosques' cultural nomination has been "under development" the Maldives HAS managed successfully to gain inscription of 3 UNESCO World Biosphere Reserves
a. Baa Atoll (2011)
b. Fuvahmulah (2020)
c. Addu Atoll (2020)
When one considers that "The Maldives consists of 1,190 coral islands grouped in a double chain of twenty-seven atolls..... with about 200 inhabited islands. About 164 islands are developed as tourist resorts and the remaining islands are uninhabited or used for agriculture & other livelihood purposes". Tourism represents "28% of GDP and more than 60% of......foreign exchange receipts" there would seem to be "good reasons" in Maldivian terms for the country NOT to engage with a scheme which (over?) emphasizes very strict natural preservation criteria excluding human activity, but, instead to opt for one whose objective is "enhancing the relationship between people and their environments. It combines the natural and social sciences with a view to improving human livelihoods and safeguarding natural and managed ecosystems"