AFTER the Nubian Campaign of the 1960s, UNESCO launched in 1972 ‘The Convention for the Protection of the World’s Cultural and Natural Heritage’. This was followed by the creation of the World Heritage Centre (WHC), which subsequently created a register known as the ‘World Heritage List’ (WHL,), of cultural and natural sites considered to be of universal value.
There are now more than 800 sites registered on the list, seven of which are in Egypt. Five of the seven were added in 1979 – the Memphis Necropolis, Historic Cairo, Luxor City (east and west), the Nubian area and finally Abu Mina Monastery. Then recently two more sites were included – Saint Catherine’s Monastery and the Valley of Whales (Wadi Hitan).
Recently, UNESCO created another list – the ‘Intangible Oral Heritage’. In 2003, the convention for ‘The Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage’ was adopted.
Based on the convention, and even before it, a list was started known as ‘Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanities’. This list started in 2001 with 19 items and a further 28 items were added in 2003. The list is normally updated every two years.
Intangible heritage as described above is manifested in the following domains: .oral traditional expressions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events and finally traditional craftsmanship.
The items on the 2001 list included Jamaa el-Fena Square in Marrakesh, Morocco. It has dominated the city since its founding in the 11th century. The square is home to a diverse group of performers – musicians, dancers, glass eaters, snake charmers, storytellers, restaurateurs, henna tattooists, traditional doctors, preachers, etc.
The 2003 list included ‘AL-Sirah Al¬-Hilalyah Epic’ that was submitted by the Centre for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CULTNAT) to UNESCO and adopted by it. This proposal for ‘Al-Hilalyah Epic’, which was also awarded a special prize by Sheikh Zayed Al Nahian, will be the subject of our next article.
