The International Council on Monuments and Sites - ICOMOS

The 16th General Assembly of ICOMOS, meeting in Québec, Canada, in October 2008 resolved that:

4. Alburnus Maior (Romania)

Regarding the Roman site of Alburnus Maior in Rosia Montana, an outstanding mining settlement and cultural landscape in Romania, as a potential World Heritage Site,

With reference to:
- The Resolution n° 20 of the 13th General Assembly of ICOMOS held in Madrid, Spain,
- The Resolution of the 14th Extraordinary General Assembly, held in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe,
- The resolution of the ICOMOS Conference, held in Pécs, Hungary, 22-27 May 2004,
- The ICAHM Statement on the mining concept at Rosia Montana in Lyon, France, at the European Archaeological Association Conference on 9 September 2004,
- The Resolution of the 15th General Assembly of ICOMOS, meeting in Xi'an, China, in October 2005,
- The resolution of the XXIII World Congress of the International Union of Architects, in Torino in 2008, and

Taking into consideration:
- The official statements of the Romanian Academy, those of all the religious communities involved and also those of professional bodies, such as the European Council of Architects and the Romanian Chamber of Architects,
- That the Ministry for the Environment and Sustainable Development of Romania interrupted the licensing procedure for the mine proposal and suspended the evaluation of the environmental impact study prepared by Rosia Montana Gold Corporation,
- Recent irrevocable court decisions in Romania that annulled an archaeological discharge certificate issued earlier to exploit the Carnic Massif and also ascertained the illegality of Rosia Montana's urban plans, and also
- Recent information about steps taken for starting mining operations in Rosia Montana and also other similar threats upon the archaeological, architectural and historical heritage of the cultural landscape of the Apuseni Mountains,

The 16th General Assembly of ICOMOS, meeting in Quebec, Canada, in October 2008 resolves to:

- Reiterate its deepest concern about the planned mining operations that have led to and threaten to continue the destruction of the archaeological site of Alburnus Maior in Rosia Montana, Romania, and its surroundings,
- Call for the urgent intervention of the National Authorities to ensure the appropriate protection of the site,
- Call for further evaluation of the significance of the site as a cultural landscape and its archaeological,
architectural and ethnographic heritage together with its spiritual values in the context of the cultural heritage of Europe and the world, and
- Express once again its will to collaborate with the Romanian authorities and other organizations to achieve these actions and calls for the involvement of the relevant ICOMOS International Scientific Committee and UNESCO for that purpose.