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Saudi Culture Ministry Participates in Jordan’s Jerash Festival for Culture and Arts

Saudi Culture Ministry Participates in Jordan’s Jerash Festival for Culture and Arts
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Saudi Culture Ministry Participates in Jordan’s Jerash Festival for Culture and Arts

Saudi Culture Ministry Participates in Jordan’s Jerash Festival for Culture and Arts

The Saudi Ministry of Culture is participating in the 38th Jerash Festival in Jordan’s ancient city of Jerash from July 24 to August 3.
The ministry will present a variety of cultural activities through three cultural agencies, reflecting the rich cultural and artistic diversity of the Kingdom, SPA reported.

The Theater and Performing Arts Commission will participate with performing-arts groups from several Saudi regions, showcasing traditional arts such as Al-Hajini, Al-Dahha, Al-Samri, Al-Khamari, and Al-Rabash on the festival's main stage.
The Heritage Commission will have a specialized pavilion for "Year of the Camel 2024," a digital photo exhibition showcasing the prominent UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Saudi Arabia, and another exhibition showcasing the Kingdom's architectural heritage sites through virtual-reality technologies. The pavilion will also display traditional crafts by a group of Saudi artisans using innovative methods, including palm crafts, pottery, Asiri weaving, bead making, jewelry crafting, and woodworking.
The Music Commission will participate with a pavilion at the international exhibition site, introducing the Saudi "Turooq" initiative to preserve traditional Saudi performing music and the Saudi Music Memory initiative through interactive screens. The commission will also organize a cultural exchange show titled "Turooq Meets the World" at the Sound and Light Theater of the festival. The show will feature musical performances that blend Saudi musical heritage with the musical traditions of participating countries.
The Ministry of Culture's participation in the iconic cultural festival is part of its efforts to highlight Saudi Arabia's cultural renaissance on regional and global levels, promote the rich and diverse cultural heritage of the Kingdom, and strengthen frameworks for cooperation and cultural exchange between Saudi Arabia and countries worldwide, in line with the targets of the National Cultural Strategy derived from the ambitious Vision 2030.

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UN Agency Rejects Plan to Place Britain’s Stonehenge on List of Heritage Sites in Danger

Sheep graze beside the prehistoric monument at Stonehenge in southern England, on April 26, 2020, closed during the national lockdown due to the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. (AFP)
Sheep graze beside the prehistoric monument at Stonehenge in southern England, on April 26, 2020, closed during the national lockdown due to the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. (AFP)
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UN Agency Rejects Plan to Place Britain’s Stonehenge on List of Heritage Sites in Danger

Sheep graze beside the prehistoric monument at Stonehenge in southern England, on April 26, 2020, closed during the national lockdown due to the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. (AFP)
Sheep graze beside the prehistoric monument at Stonehenge in southern England, on April 26, 2020, closed during the national lockdown due to the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. (AFP)

The United Nations’ cultural agency rejected recommendations Wednesday to place Stonehenge on the list of world heritage sites in danger over concerns that Britain’s plans to build a nearby highway tunnel threaten the landscape around the prehistoric monument.

UNESCO experts had recommended listing Stonehenge, a prehistoric stone circle on a plain in southern England, as “in danger” over controversial plans to redevelop the nearby highway that would include the creation of a new tunnel aimed at trying to ease traffic along a stretch of road widely prone to gridlock.

Had the 46th session of the World Heritage Committee in New Delhi backed that recommendation, then British authorities would have come under pressure to think again.

UNESCO says a site’s inclusion on its List of World Heritage Sites in Danger is not punitive. Rather, it is aimed at drawing international attention to the urgent need for conservation measures and “encourage corrective action.” If issues are not rectified, sites face the possibility of being de-listed by UNESCO, though that is rare.

Britain was joined by others, including Kenya and Qatar in arguing that efforts to mitigate the effect on the site of the planned tunnel were sufficient and that it should not be added to the “in danger” list.

A spokesperson for the British government welcomed the decision over what is one of the country's “oldest and most celebrated sites.”

Stonehenge was built on the flat lands of Salisbury Plain in stages, starting 5,000 years ago, with the unique stone circle erected in the late Neolithic period about 2,500 B.C.

It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1986 — an honor bestowed upon sites that have special cultural or physical significance.

The highway project, which has been touted for decades and mired in legal challenges, is aimed at trying to ease traffic along a stretch of road prone to gridlock by moving the main highway underground and slightly farther away from the famous stone circle.

The A303 highway, which is a popular route for motorists traveling to and from the southwest of England, is often severely congested around the single-lane section of road near Stonehenge. As part of widespread improvements, a two-mile tunnel is being planned that will effectively remove the sight and sound of traffic passing the site, and cut journey times.

The plan has faced fierce opposition from local residents and archaeologists, as well as concern from UNESCO, over potential damage to the environment, wildlife and possible new archaeological finds.

Last week, campaigners seeking to halt the plan began their latest legal challenge at the UK's Court of Appeal.

Kenya, in amending the recommendation to list the site as in danger, focused on the fact that the main stone circle would be farther away from the road with the new construction, and not the experts' assessment that the road project would significantly impact the greater site. It also noted that Britain had considered more than 50 proposals for the highway plan.

After rejecting the proposal to list Stonehenge as in danger, the committee agreed to ask Britain for an updated report on the state of conservation of the property by December 2025.