NIO M O UN IM D R T IA A L P W L O A I R D L D N H O E M R I E TA IN G O E PATRIM United Nations World From From Astronomy to Zanzibar – 10 of Years Dutch Support to World Heritage Heritage Cultural Organization Convention From stronomy Ato Zanzibar 10 Years of Dutch Support to World Heritage Cover Photos: © UNESCO/ R. Van Oers Supervision, editing and coordination: Ron van Oers and Sachiko Haraguchi, UNESCO World Heritage Centre Photos and images presented in the texts are the copyrights of the authors unless otherwise indicated. Published in 2012 by the United Nations Educational, Scienti!c and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 7 place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP France © UNESCO 2012 All rights reserved Disclaimer: The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The authors are responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts contained in this book and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization. Composed and printed in the workshops of UNESCO The printer is certi!ed Imprim’Vert®, the French printing industry’s environmental initiative. CLT-2012/WS/5 – CLD 443.12 Table of Contents Foreword by Halbe Zijlstra, State Secretary of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands . 4 Foreword by Kishore Rao, Director of the World Heritage Centre. 5 Introduction by Ron van Oers, Coordinator, Netherlands Funds-in-Trust at the World Heritage Centre . 7 Selected Projects 1. The Caribbean Capacity Building Programme for World Heritage (CCBP) by Herman van Hoo!, Fernando Brugman and Victor Marin . 22 2. Kiribati’s journey to World Heritage designation of the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) by Tukabu Teroroko and Sue Miller-Taei . 32 3. A Management Plan for Paramaribo’s Historic Inner City: Challenges in preserving wooden urban heritage by Stephen Fokké and Harrold Sijlbing . 40 4. The Silk Roads World Heritage serial and transnational nomination – Phase 1 by China and Central Asia by Feng Jing and Zhan Guo. 46 5. Planning for the conservation and development of historic Cochin in Kerala, India by Cristina Iamandi, and Chitra and Biley Menon . 54 6. UNESCO’s Programme on Modern Heritage by Ron van Oers . 64 7. The Cape Winelands cultural landscape nomination, South Africa by Hannetjie du Preez . 70 Annex List of Projects supported under the Netherlands Funds-in-Trust (2001-2010). 78 Planning for the Conservation and Development of Historic Cochin in Kerala, India By Cristina Iamandi, Conservation Architect and Planner, In Situ Design in Bucharest, Romania, and Chitra and Biley Menon, Architects, Idea Design in Cochin & Bangalore, India Brief description and history of old Cochin 54 Cochin originated as a fishing village of minor significance in the Kingdom of Cochin, but the Malabar coast was already known by Greco-Romans and other Western travellers and traders in the early period of trade and commerce. Cochin only emerged as a major trade centre after the "ood that followed the ravaging tsunami of 1341 which destroyed Cranganore, the ancient harbour city situated further north. Transforming Cochin into a natural harbour, the "ood resulted in a shift of attention from merchants of Cranganore to Cochin. Eventually Cochin became a bustling town attracting populations from other regions of India, as well as Arabs and Chinese. Prior to the establishment of the !rst Western European trading posts in the sixteenth century, Cochin was already a prosperous town, well known in the Arabian Sea region for its spices, cashew nuts, tea, coir, handicrafts, and so on. Its strategic location and abundance of goods attracted rival European colonial powers to take possession and keep Cochin under control for 444 years. The colonial period started in 1503 when the Raja of Cochin granted permission to the Portuguese to build a fort to protect their commercial interests. Behind this fort (Emmanuel Kota), the Portuguese built their settlements and churches, !rst in wood and later Since ancient times, the port in baked brick structures. Cochin remained in the city of Cochin has been both possession of the Portuguese for 160 years, until 1663. a place of tolerance and After Rijcklof van Goens’ decisive battle against the Portuguese, the Dutch captured Cochin in a thriving trade centre. 1663 destroying great sections of the Portuguese surrounding natural environment and creating settlement. Many Catholic institutions such as a thriving and bustling, green city. The city still churches and convents were demolished or maintains an exceptional environmental quality that converted into Protestant churches. The Dutch held has been lost in mainland Cochin. The ‘tropical village’ and possessed Fort Kochi for 132 years until 1795 character of the historic city, animated by its diversity when the British took control by defeating the Dutch. and rich community life, are distinctive features that Under the British regime, many religious structures should be preserved and enhanced by the future were built such as temples, mosques and churches, plan, alongside its built heritage. as well as important public buildings and several upscale residences. After 1947, the year of India’s independence, major Characteristics of the site administrative changes took place. The Kerala State was established in 1956, in 1966 the Joint Town Planning Committee was set up, and the Corporation Location, geography and climate of Cochin was established in 1967, with the Cochin The location and geographical characteristics of Town Planning Trust subsequently instated. Finally, Cochin, comprising mainly of lowlands along the in 1976 the Greater Cochin Development Authority sea coast and backwaters, and naturally drained via (GCDA) was established. backwaters, canals and rivers, greatly contributed to the formation of the !rst urban settlement and its subsequent development. Its peculiar location 55 in the basin of the Arabian Sea within the Indian Cultural significance of Fort sub-continent and Kerala made Cochin a strategic Cochin and Mattanchery and favoured place for the development of an international trade centre. Moreover, Cochin has a tropical humid climate and fertile soil resulting in Since ancient times, the port city of Cochin has been luxuriant tropical vegetation; natural assets which both a place of tolerance and a thriving trade centre, both the indigenous society and the former colonial part of a broad mercantile system that epitomized the powers took great advantage of. early development of global trading and cultural cross- fertilization throughout the di#erent regions of India, the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, and later Europe. The urban plan The singularity of old Cochin resides in the The urban plan of the heritage zone includes the coexistence of the ‘Indian’ city with the ‘colonial’ city; planned area of Fort Cochin, of European colonial complementary entities tightly linked throughout origin, and the un-planned town Mattanchery, history in a single urban agglomeration. Ruled by which is older and predominantly Indian. It consists Maharajas and Divans, the place developed as a of a few remains of military works, the street pattern fusion of Indian, Arab, Jewish and Western European and plots, the main functional poles, and the cultures re"ected in a signi!cant and complex urban city’s main landmarks. The heritage zone of Fort form where rich historical layers are superimposed Cochin and Mattanchery comprises several distinct on a very intricate and ever changing social and morphological units: ethnic pattern. The three main urban areas Fort The former planned Dutch colonial forti!ed town. Cochin and Mattanchery, linked by the coastal trade The remaining Portuguese colonial town left strip, together with Fort Vypeen, bear witness to the when the Dutch built their fort. development of one of the major trading centres in The oldest Indian town core. India from the !fteenth to twentieth centuries. The coastal area of the backwaters. The network of linkages between communities The fringe-belts of the Dutch town and the of diverse cultures and religions, driven by trade former Dutch East India Company (VOC) gardens, and commerce related interests, have crystallized which were urbanized in the nineteenth century. into a rich composite culture interacting with the Areas of twentieth century urbanization. Planning for the Conservation and Development of Historic Cochin in Kerala These units correspond to various periods of large and very small plots with a recurrent square development, building style or functional use, shape. The predominant large square plot of Thirumala varying in size and complexity and heterogeneity Devaswom Temple is in the heart of Mattanchery, with of the elements. The city’s complexity came about the temple land surrounded by large plots, though as a result of adaptation, alteration and partial or some of these have sub-divided in the last century. total replacement of elements such as plots, blocks, frontages or townscapes. The trading and commercial The street network of Fort Cochin and some parts architecture of Mattanchery are well preserved with most areas The trade and commerce that made Cochin both dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. famous and prosperous was concentrated in a stretch A continuous old road follows the backwater of the backwater coastal area from the Calvathy coast and goes across Fort Cochin (Church Road), canal to Kochangady area where the oldest mosque continuing along the seaside, ending in a point1 in Cochin is located (926 Hijra calendar, 1519 AD). situated in the Veli Ground where another main axis, The area encompasses the famous Bazaar Road, the corresponding to Calvathy canal, converges (T.M. Boat Jetty Road, Jew Town Road, and Kochangady Mohamed-Amaravathi Road).