Minister of Culture: Enlisting Aleppo on list of human heritage confirms the world’s recognition that we are builders of civilization
“We have made great efforts for UNESCO to include Al-Qudud Al-Halabi (Traditional Songs of Aleppo) on the list of human heritage,” said Minister of Culture, Dr. Lubana Mushouh.
During a press conference, the Minister added: Ten years of terrorist war, and today, after liberating the greater part of our lands, we are besieged economically and psychologically with the aim of undermining the Syrian identity, will and ability to withstand and donate.
She pointed out that UNESCO’s inclusion of Aleppo on the list of human heritage confirms that the world recognizes that we are the builders of civilization, and that our culture that we built and passed down through generations is globally recognized.
“Today, we are breaking the siege imposed on us, opening new windows and working to expand it,” the Minister went on to say, stressing that “we can be crowned on the world’s cultural map, and this enables us to move to the world’s tourism map.”
She explained that UNESCO’s inclusion of Aleppo’s Qudoud on the list of human heritage requires that Syria submit a detailed report every six years on the measures taken to preserve and disseminate the intangible heritage component.
Mushawah said: We are facing a war today that targets our national character, our identity, our ideas, and the principles on which we were raised. It is not only for our children but for humanity as a whole. We are the ones who issued to the whole world the musical notes, the Damascene rose, the first wheat seed and the plow. We also issued them the plastic art represented by the first piece of sculpture made, which represents the goddess of fertility, dating back to eight thousand years BC.
In response to a question about the impact of the inclusion of al-Qudud on the list of human heritage on the city of Aleppo, as it has the greatest and widest credit for publishing, writing and composing al-Qudud, Mushawah confirmed that this achievement will be reflected in all Syrian cities. Al-Qudud was first developed in Aleppo led by the late Sabah Fakhri, who had the greatest credit for the development of Qudoud, but by including it on the list of human heritage, it became Syrian and Arab par excellence, and it can be said that it has become global.
Mushawah thanked the Syrian Trust for Development with all its cadres, the Directorate of Intangible Heritage in the Ministry of Culture, and the permanent Syrian delegate to UNESCO, Lamia Shakkour, for her efforts in preparing the file and following it up to reach its goal, stressing that the greatest thanks and deepest gratitude go to Mrs. Asma al-Assad for all the support and encouragement she provided to complete this file so that we can all be proud of it today.
For his part, member of the Board of Trustees of the Syrian Trust for Development, Fares Kallas, said that the war on the Syrian identity prompted us to take steps to protect it by collecting and documenting the intangible heritage and documenting the damage suffered by society and archaeological sites to preserve our history and civilization and pass it on to future generations and to achieve victory in the war in addition to the victories achieved by the Syrian Arab Army.
Kallas clarified that preserving the intangible heritage is the responsibility of all of us and is not limited to the Syrian Trust for Development or the Ministry of Culture, and registering it with UNESCO is one of the results of the work, but what is happening on the ground is the deeper and greater content, as there are plans to preserve it, and with regard to the Aleppo Qudoud, a plan has been drawn up in the hands of Syrian musicians, experts and members of the community. He pointed out that there are many cases in which some files and elements are subject to removal from the lists of human heritage because they are not alive and our real role is to revive and disseminate them and create awareness in the community about their value.
For his part, the Executive Director of the Syrian Trust for Development, Shadi El-Elshi stated that the role of the Syrian Trust for Development stems from its primary goal of protecting the Syrian cultural identity, as it is an ancient identity rooted in history. We are not talking about reviving the urban fabric, but rather about providing and achieving maximum opportunities to reach sustainable economic and social development.
Al-Elshi explained that the second axis is the preservation of the intangible heritage, including the Aleppo Qudud, and that the Secretariat is concerned with all the details of our customs, traditions, tales and folk proverbs, and that it was able in 2018 to document the Damascene Rose and this year the Aleppo Qudud, based on technical efforts that begin with research, scientific documentation and dialogues with those interested in these material elements and immaterialism, preparing files and studies, evaluating and presenting them to reach the desired results by registering them on the list of human heritage in order to preserve the Syrian cultural identity.
Inas Abdulkareem/ K.Q