CRO AMBASSADOR ON VARAZDIN'S CANDIDACY FOR UNESCO HERITAGE LIST

ZAGREB, Sept 23 (Hina) - Experts of UNESCO's World Heritage Centre have viewed all documentation on Varazdin and had no objections to the candidacy proceedings for this northern Croatian town's inclusion on the UNESCO list, Croatian Ambassador to the UNESCO Vesna Girardi-Jurkic told Hina on Thursday.#L# All conditions have been met relative to a questionnaire on the town's history, culture, cultural and architectural heritage, and the cultural monuments management, she said. Varazdin submitted its files to UNESCO's Centre a year ago. Soon they will be forwarded to the International Council of Museums, whose experts will visit the town to inspect the situation on the ground and submit a report which will be compared to the town's own files. This documentation will on 1 July, 2000 be submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre Executive Board, whose conclusions will be forwarded to the UNESCO Executive Council. Girardi-Jurkic said Varazdin could be included on UNESCO's World Heritage list at a World Heritage Centre assembly in December 2000. The ambassador believes Varazdin has been very successful in reconciling the contemporary trends in its development with the preservation of its cultural heritage. Special attention has been dedicated to a top quality revitalisation of the town's famous baroque palaces, and the town's monuments have been spared the devastation seen in many other European cities, she concluded. (hina) ha