Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Damascus, SANA- Minister of Culture, Lubana Mshaweh, said that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) inscription of Qudud Halabiya on the list of human heritage affirms that the world recognizes “we are builders of civilization,” adding that this achievement opens new windows which will be expanded.
Mshaweh said during a press conference on Thursday that a new element of the intangible Syrian heritage is included in the Representative List of Human Heritage of UNESCO for the year 2021, and the step was announced during the meeting of the 16th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in France, being held between December 13th to 18th.
” The inscription decision referred to the Qudud Halabiya tradition and its importance for the intangible heritage and its ability to provide communities with sources of resilience and boosting peace and dialogue among them,” the Minister stressed.
She added that the Syrian Trust for Development, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, have exerted great efforts in preparing the file of al-Qudud Halabiya according to a precise methodology based on in-depth studies in which researchers, volunteers and artists participated, pointing out that the current goal is to invest this file in an optimal way in building a better future for Syria.
For his part, member of Syria Trust for Development, Fares Kallas, said that the war on the Syrian identity “pushed us to take steps to protect it by collecting and documenting the intangible heritage and documenting the damage to which society was exposed to, and archaeological sites to preserve our history and civilization and pass it on to the upcoming generations and achieve victory in the war to be added to the victories achieved by the Syrian Arab Army.”
In turn, Executive Director of the Syrian Trust for Development, Shadi Al-Elshi, told SANA that the role of the Syrian Trust for Development aims to protect the Syrian cultural identity, as it is deeply-rooted in history.
He added “we work on two axes, the first one is the revival of historical purposes , archaeological monuments and giving attention to the material heritage.”
Nisreen Othman / MHD Ibrahim/Mazen Eyon
