SBAH: Sites to be enlisted in World Heritage

INA - BAGHDAD - LIVE UPDATES

State Board of Antiquities and Heritage – SBAH revealed on Wednesday, upon the measures taken to include new sites on the World Heritage List.
 
"Kirkuk channel and the old road of Zubaydah, which is an old pilgrimage route, joined the preliminary list of the World Heritage, as it is considered a great achievement. This file is being worked on in cooperation with Saudi Arabia and it was approved by UNESCO, as there will be 4 archaeological sites in each region,” said the Director-General of the Commission, Laith Majid, in a statement to the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
 
He added, "Najaf cemetery, Lalish temple in Dohuk and many archaeological sites will be as proposals one after another, as we hope that they will be approved on the list," noting that "so far, UNESCO's proposals and requirements are many, so we have worked seriously and greatly in the recent period to include Zubaydah road as it is a joint proposal between countries and has completed the requirements to the fullest, and we hope that the sites we have chosen will be recognized by UNESCO,”

"The most important thing than listing is to preserve those sites such as Hatra, Samarra and Ashur, as these sites are on the list, but were exposed to terrorist acts by Daesh terrorist gangs, and we are now working to remove these sites from the danger list," he pointed out, noting "after the end of the terrorist occupation of Daesh in Mosul and the bombing of the two imams in Samarra have put these sites under danger, but after the end of the threats there is a heritage team working to remove the danger,”
 
He went on saying, "Ashur is under threat due to projects to construct Makhoul dam, so it was put on the danger list, as the construction of the dam was stopped, and we worked on the basis of the entire archaeological area to be excavated by a mission, in addition to rehabilitating 200 other very important sites that would be excavated,"
 
"Al-Hindiya Dam was placed with the waterwheels on the list of intangible heritage according to UNESCO classifications of tangible and intangible archaeological sites, in addition to the sites of Ur and Babylon," he explained, adding "coordination is tight with the Tourism Authority, and there are projects in the marshes region that have been approved, including the tourist city of Ur,”
 
Regarding the visit to Italy, Majid stressed that the visit to Italy was “very important”, as there were meetings regarding the rehabilitation of the Mosul Museum, in addition to deliberations on the rehabilitation of the museum and its infrastructure, including lighting and display cabinets, adding, “we may reach satisfactory results for its rehabilitation soon,"