Arabic Calligraphy Enscribed into UNESCO Heritage List

 A Pakistani artist works on a Koranic calligraphy project made with gold-plated letters at Arts Council of Pakistan, in port City of Karachi on September 6, 2021. (AFP)
A Pakistani artist works on a Koranic calligraphy project made with gold-plated letters at Arts Council of Pakistan, in port City of Karachi on September 6, 2021. (AFP)
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Arabic Calligraphy Enscribed into UNESCO Heritage List

 A Pakistani artist works on a Koranic calligraphy project made with gold-plated letters at Arts Council of Pakistan, in port City of Karachi on September 6, 2021. (AFP)
A Pakistani artist works on a Koranic calligraphy project made with gold-plated letters at Arts Council of Pakistan, in port City of Karachi on September 6, 2021. (AFP)

UNESCO on Tuesday added Arabic calligraphy, a key tradition in the Arab and Islamic worlds, to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

A total of 16 Muslim-majority countries, led by Saudi Arabia, presented the nomination to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which announced the listing on Twitter.

"Arabic calligraphy is the artistic practice of handwriting Arabic script in a fluid manner to convey harmony, grace and beauty," UNESCO said on its website.

"The fluidity of Arabic script offers infinite possibilities, even within a single word, as letters can be stretched and transformed in numerous ways to create different motifs."

Saudi Culture Minister Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al-Saud welcomed the decision and said it would "contribute to developing this cultural heritage", in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

Abdelmajid Mahboub from the Saudi Heritage Preservation Society, which was involved in the proposal, said calligraphy "has always served as a symbol of the Arab-Muslim world".

But he lamented that "many people no longer write by hand due to technological advances", adding that the number of specialized Arab calligraphic artists had dropped sharply.

The UNESCO listing "will certainly have a positive impact" on preserving the tradition, he added.

According to the UNESCO website, intangible cultural heritage "is an important factor in maintaining cultural diversity in the face of growing globalization".

Its importance "is not the cultural manifestation itself but rather the wealth of knowledge and skills that is transmitted through it from one generation to the next".



NCVC Launches One Million Seedling Planting Project in Mahayel Aseer

Photo by SPA
Photo by SPA
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NCVC Launches One Million Seedling Planting Project in Mahayel Aseer

Photo by SPA
Photo by SPA

The National Center for Vegetation Cover Development and Combating Desertification (NCVC) branch in Aseer Region launched an environmental project to plant one million seedlings in almadra forest in Mahayel Aseer Governorate, located 80 km northwest of Abha.

This comes in support of the Saudi Green Initiative, according to SPA.
The project aims to promote community engagement by involving local volunteer teams in planting efforts.

The main goal targets reducing carbon emissions, restoring plant biodiversity, combating climate change, and supporting ecotourism activities in the region.