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Yemeni Minister Praises Saudi Support in Boosting Efforts to Preserve Heritage

The Saudi flag. Asharq Al-Awsat
The Saudi flag. Asharq Al-Awsat
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Yemeni Minister Praises Saudi Support in Boosting Efforts to Preserve Heritage

The Saudi flag. Asharq Al-Awsat
The Saudi flag. Asharq Al-Awsat

Yemeni Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Muammar Al-Eryani has lauded Saudi Arabia for its support to Yemen’s government to protect local heritage and antiquities, and increase institutional potentials to preserve cultural property.

That support is represented by the Saudi Ministry of Culture and the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen (SDRPY).

The Yemeni minister's remarks came in a statement published by the official Yemeni news agency on Saturday.

He called for holding an international conference to preserve and protect Yemeni antiquities, and to mobilize the necessary financial and technical resources to help protect and maintain them.

He also called for agreements to protect Yemeni antiquities from illicit trafficking and drying up an important resource of terrorist financing globally.

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Greek Potter Keeps Ancient Ways Alive, Wins UNESCO Recognition

A drone view of ready handmade pieces in Kouvdis’ family pottery workshop in Agios Stefanos village, near Mandamados on the Greek island of Lesbos, Greece, September 23, 2024. (Reuters)
A drone view of ready handmade pieces in Kouvdis’ family pottery workshop in Agios Stefanos village, near Mandamados on the Greek island of Lesbos, Greece, September 23, 2024. (Reuters)
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Greek Potter Keeps Ancient Ways Alive, Wins UNESCO Recognition

A drone view of ready handmade pieces in Kouvdis’ family pottery workshop in Agios Stefanos village, near Mandamados on the Greek island of Lesbos, Greece, September 23, 2024. (Reuters)
A drone view of ready handmade pieces in Kouvdis’ family pottery workshop in Agios Stefanos village, near Mandamados on the Greek island of Lesbos, Greece, September 23, 2024. (Reuters)

In his seaside workshop on the Greek island of Lesbos, Nikos Kouvdis uses ancient techniques to create pottery pieces that have recently been honored with inclusion in UNESCO's National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Kouvdis, 70, and his family have kept an old technique alive near the once humming pottery hub of Mandamados, just as the slow and careful methods of the past have been largely eclipsed by factory machines.

Their pottery is among the last in the Mediterranean to be produced from clay in local soil, using a traditional kiln with olive pits as fuel, with the pieces painted with natural lime.

"It's an honor for me," Kouvdis said with regard to the UNESCO recognition of his work.

He said a mechanized press can work at 10 times the speed of an individual potter. "There’s no continuity. There’s no space for (our) method to continue."

Still, he continues to produce individual pots on an outcrop of land overlooking the Aegean Sea.

"Above all, it’s a passion - trying to create something that fulfils you," he said.