The inauguration of the “House of Heritage” at the Traditional Crafts Center in Fustat coincided with the 20th anniversary of Egypt signing the “Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage” with UNESCO.
Dr. Nevin Al-Kilani, Egypt’s Minister of Culture, and Nuria Sanz, Regional Director of UNESCO in Cairo, inaugurated the ceremony.
Soha Gendi, Minister of Immigration; Major General Khaled Abdel-Al, Governor of Cairo; Dr. Abdel Aziz Al-Musallam, President of the Sharjah Heritage Institute; as well as several ambassadors, UNESCO representatives, officials from the Ministry of Culture, and representatives from civil society organizations involved in heritage preservation all attended the inauguration ceremony.
During the event, they examined the exhibition “The Journey of the Holy Family” by the late artist Ikram Ammar, which featured a number of her most significant plastic creations and detailed the various stages of the Holy Family’s journey.
In addition, they also inspected an exhibition of Arabic calligraphy created by the Khudair Al-Borsaidi School of Arabic Calligraphy and Decoration.
Dr. Nevin Al-Kilani stated in her speech: Today, as Egypt celebrates, in partnership with UNESCO, the twentieth anniversary of the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, the Ministry of Culture inaugurates the “Heritage House” to complete a series of heritage preservation sessions and carry out its assigned mission.
For her part, UNESCO Regional Director Nuria Sanz stated: Egypt is known as the birthplace of the World Heritage Convention, as Egyptian authorities and experts played a pivotal role in the preparatory phase for the adoption of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention, and Egyptian officials and academics actively participated in international expert meetings and intergovernmental meetings.
Sanz further noted that the “House of Heritage” will act as a hub for the national archive of intangible cultural heritage as well as for activities that showcase its richness.
