Tartous-Sana
The project of documenting the intangible Syrian cultural heritage was launched in Tartous Governorate, which is being established by the Ministry of Culture in cooperation with the Syrian Trust for Development, with the aim of preserving and protecting this heritage and monitoring the changes that occurred to it during the war period in an effort to preserve the Syrian cultural identity.
Director of Intangible Heritage at the Ministry of Culture, Eng. Rola Aqili, explained in a statement to SANA that the first steps of the project started in Tartous Governorate today, as part of the Ministry’s program to protect this heritage, which includes several projects, the most important of which is documenting intangible heritage, which in turn is divided into three phases, the first included updating the national inventory list It consists of 100 items and is updated every two years, while the second includes inventories in the governorates, and the third is based on listing the important items on this list to choose the most important according to the inventories.
Aqili indicated that there is no element of Tartous Governorate among the 100 elements, and therefore it was chosen to launch the project, in addition to being rich in cultural diversity and intangible elements.
Aqili, who presented on the first day a lecture on the concept of tangible and intangible heritage and the interrelationship between them, pointed out that the number of trainees 60 young men and women will work over the course of a month on the ground, according to the questionnaire that was provided to them through meetings with various segments of society and in various regions of the governorate and asking them about the most important elements of heritage For them, the immaterial, considering that the local community is the basis of heritage, as it is practiced and transmitted from one generation to another.
In turn, Razan Mahamid of the Living Heritage Program at the Syrian Trust for Development described in a similar statement after presenting a lecture entitled (the inventory project and how to plan for it, with an introduction to the mechanism of work of field teams on the ground and its divisions). The geographical distribution and their experience in the field of heritage are taken into account on the Intangible Heritage Convention of 2003 in addition to the concept of tangible and intangible heritage, with their definition of the inventory project, inventory lists, how to prepare these lists and the mechanism of field work.
A number of trainees expressed the importance of participating in this qualitative and necessary project for the heritage and cultural identity of the Syrian society, as mentioned by the trainee Baha Muhanna, director of the media office in the Tartous Culture Directorate, because he finds it includes many areas and it is our duty to protect this heritage and preserve it for future generations in an accurate and documented manner.
Volunteer at the Syrian Trust for Development, Amani Abdullah, explained that her presence with the rest of the trainees to learn about the concept of heritage and its most important elements in the governorate and to participate in field work after completing the training came out of passion and interest in discovering our rich Syrian heritage, hoping that the project would achieve the desired goal and purpose in the best way.
Fatima Hussain
