Officials convene preparatory session
Nineveh prepares for entry onto UNESCO’s World Heritage List
MOSUL, January 31 — The Beitna Foundation for Culture, Arts, and Heritage conducted its first session dedicated to the inventory and documentation of Nineveh’s cultural heritage on Wednesday.
The initiative aims to meet UNESCO’s requirements to include several sites, songs, cuisines, customs, and traditions from Mosul and its surroundings on the World Heritage List.
The session was attended by Iraq’s Minister of Culture Ahmed Fekak Al-Badrani and the head of the ministry’s cultural heritage department, Shaima Mahmoud, as well as various academics, cultural personalities, and heritage enthusiasts.
Al-Badrani told 964media, “One of the interests of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism, Antiquities is documenting folk heritage and registering intangible assets on UNESCO’s Heritage List. The Beitna Foundation, established after the liberation of Mosul city [from ISIS], significantly contributes with our ministry in documenting these files for presentation to UNESCO by the end of March.”
Saqer Maan Al-Zakaria, head of Beitna stated, “This session is in preparation for a significant heritage event, which is Mosul’s entry onto UNESCO’s Cultural Heritage List. Many aspects of Mosul deserve to be on this list, but it requires the local community and civil society to participate in preparing this list to ensure its authenticity and reliability.”
“Today, we are here to prepare the preliminary list for this study, and soon Mosul and some of its unique features, like the natural healing springs in Hammam Al-Alil, Ain Kibrit near Bash Tapia Castle, Moslawi terminologies, dances, and folk costumes, will be included on the World Heritage List,” Al-Zakaria added.