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Experts stress need to ‘save cultural heritage' in ME

MANAMA, March 26, 2015

Archaeology experts from across the Middle East have stressed the need to protect the region's cultural heritage at an international conference held in Manama, Bahrain.

The Conference on Historic Cities and Urban Regeneration, hosted by the Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage (ARC-WH) in Manama, concluded with a series of recommendations which will be presented to Unesco this weekend, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

"We express great concern about the damage and destruction taking place in a number of Arab countries and condemn in the strongest possible terms the killing of innocent people and obliteration of their cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible," said ARC-WH director Dr Mounir Bouchenaki yesterday.

"We urge the international community to take all possible measures to halt the current destruction of cultural heritage, and the establishment of a charter agreed upon by all institutions concerned to prevent the future destruction and loss of the irreplaceable heritage of the region."

Among the recommendations were "an adoption of legislative measures at a national level" that take into account a city's "socioeconomic context" in order to "promote forms of sustainable urban development".

A need for more understanding of the importance of cultural and historic cities was also emphasised, with the experts stating that language barriers may be a problem.

"A linguistic study should be undertaken to enable the proper understanding of the technical terminology concerning conservation, restoration, rehabilitation and reconstruction applicable to the Arab region," said Dr Bouchenaki.

"A user-friendly handbook in Arabic to guide urban regeneration and the preparation of management plans applicable to historic urban areas is needed."

They also stressed the importance of education and the presence of residents in historic areas.

"To ensure the continued presence of residents and beneficiaries of rehabilitation projects in the urban areas concerned in order to minimise the effects of gentrification," said Dr Bouchenaki.

"Also to ensure capacity building in the field of conservation at all levels of education, including vocational training in traditional construction and university courses in urban planning applied to historic contexts.

"Finally, it is recommended to organise a conference on the question of religious endowment properties and their role in the conservation of Islamic heritage." - TradeArabia News Service




Tags: Conference | Heritage | cultural | expert |

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