The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has officially validated Djerba Island’s application for inclusion on the World Heritage List, at the 45th enlarged session of the World Heritage Committee being held from 10 to 25 September in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in the presence of Minister of Cultural Affairs, Hayat Ketat Guermazi, and the delegation accompanying her.
This was announced by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs in a press release published on its official website on Monday.
A team of Tunisian experts from various structures and stakeholders at central, regional and local levels has worked on a detailed technical report that meets all the requirements set out in the report by experts from the International Council on Monuments and Sites and Monuments and Sites International,” the same source said.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has accepted Djerba Island’s application to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2022.
Indeed, a list of 24 monuments proposed for inclusion are located all over the island.
The monuments in question are: ”The mosques : Sidi Salem, Sidi Smain, Tajdit, Abou Messouer (Al Jamaa El Kebir), Sheikh, Sidi Jmour, Moghzel, Imghar, Guellala, Sidi Yeti, Louta, Essalaouti, El Fguira, Tlakine, Medrajen, El Bessi, Fadhloun, Berdaoui, Welhi, Sidi Zikri, Mthaniya, La Ghriba Synagogue and the Church of Saint Nicolas. “
Tunisia had 7 sites and monuments listed as World Heritage Sites between 1979 and 1997: the Medina of Tunis / the Site of Carthage / the Amphitheatre of El Jem (1979), the Site of Kerkouane (1986), the Medina of Sousse / the Medina of Kairouan (1988) and the Site of Dougga (1997). Since then, no other new Tunisian site has been inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
Since the 1970s, Tunisia has taken numerous steps to have the island of Djerba included on the tentative list of World Heritage sites, without succeeding in obtaining the favourable agreement of the UN experts.
TunisianMonitorOnline (NejiMed)
