“The Arab Forum for Cultural Heritage”: awards ceremony

The “Regional Office for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage in the Arab World” (ICCROM – Sharjah) concluded the first sessions of the second edition of the “Arab Forum for Cultural Heritage” under the title: “Authenticity, Society and Preservation of Heritage in the Arab Thought ”, which was realized hypothetically due to the measures of Corona. The forum, which lasted two consecutive days (November 9 and 10), had the participation of historians, engineers, thinkers, architects and researchers in the field of preserving the heritage of the Arab region and the world, in the midst of a high competence and interaction on the topics presented to help strengthen the concept of authenticity and promote the importance of the meanings of cultural heritage and its integration in sustainable urban development. Six winning projects, announced at the end of the forum, had made the short list of the “ICCROM-Sharjah Award for Good Practices in Preservation and Protection of Cultural Heritage in the Arab Region”, in addition to the “Arab Cultural Heritage for Youth Award “. The category “Buildings and archaeological sites” won the project “Rehabilitation of the Suqatiya market” in the Syrian city of Aleppo, which was funded by the Aga Development Network. The project was chosen “for taking a participatory approach that led to an exemplary achievement that restored hope to a historic center that had been ravaged by a devastating war.” The grand prize in the category of “collections and collections within cultural institutions” won the “Digitization and first aid for the documentary heritage of the manuscript collection in the Al-Omari mosque library” in Gaza, presented by the ” Faculty of Applied Sciences “of Gaza. In its report, the jury evaluated the project that preserved “the Palestinian identity and its intangible heritage by saving and maintaining the library of the Great Omari Mosque.” The “Honor” award in the category of buildings and archaeological sites went to the project “Aouna for Heritage Sites: Rehabilitation and Revitalization of Hajjah Old Town” in the Palestinian city of Qalqila. The “Excellence for personal initiatives for heritage news sites” award was also acquired by the “Beit Yakn / Heritage, Development, Society, Sustainability” project in Historic Cairo, in addition to the “Excellence for archaeological sites” award which was obtained by the project “Rehabilitation of the Nabati system for protection against floods”. »In Petra in Jordan. The “Preservation of the Abydos Temple Paper Archive” in Egypt won the “Award of Honor” in the category of funds and collections within cultural institutions. Regarding the “Arab Cultural Heritage for Young People” award, Reem Saif Saeed Mohammed Al Shehhi from the United Arab Emirates won in the Emirati painting category, Ibrahim Ibrahim (Lebanon) in the painting category, and “Al Dahia” dance in the school “Qasr Al Hallabat” of Jordan in the category of folk dance. Dania Al-Amrat of Jordan also won for the category of awareness films.