ISESCO Includes Rabat in List of Islamic World Heritage
Morocco’s capital city, Rabat, has been added to the list of the Islamic world heritage during the 11th Islamic conference of Culture Ministers convened in Tunis Dec.17-18 by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO).
It is a recognition of the historic and civilizational status, which Rabat boasts under the leadership of King Mohammed VI, as a human heritage and a place of coexistence and unity, said the press release issued by the Moroccan ministry of Culture.
The inscription of Rabat on the list of Islamic heritage will give a new momentum to the efforts made by Moroccan authorities to safeguard national tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
In his address at the opening session of the 11th Islamic Conference of Culture Ministers, ISESCO Director General, Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, called on the ministers of culture and competent authorities in Member States to continue the submission of their technical files for the inscription of all the tangible, intangible, natural and industrial heritage sites in their countries on the Islamic World Heritage List.
He said ISESCO has set up a special unit to inscribe heritage sites in Muslim countries according to strict scientific and international standards and signed a cooperation agreement with UNESCO to inscribe Member States’ sites on the World Heritage List.
ISESCO Director General warned against the degradation, disappearance, destruction, and looting of cultural institutions and cultural heritage in a number of Member States, pointing out that the List of World Heritage in Danger includes thirty-seven sites in Muslim countries out of fifty-four sites, accounting to almost 70% of the sites in danger.
He also called on Member States, part of the preservation of cultural heritage, to jointly inscribe a number of exemplary historical and civilizational routes (Hajj route, routes of trade caravans, and the routes of travelers, scholars, students and manuscript, etc.) on the Islamic World Heritage List.
