ALECSO Registry of Architectural and Urban Heritage in Arab Countries

Architectural and Urban Heritage Observatory

The Architectural and Urban Heritage Observatory project in the Arab countries is one of the major projects implemented by the Culture Department of the Organization, with the aim of preserving the architectural and urban heritage in the Arab states, protecting it from extinction, reviving it and enhancing its value so that it becomes the axis of sustainable urban development in the Arab region, in implementation of what was approved by the Conference of Ministers Responsible for Cultural Affairs in the Arab States at its eighteenth session in Manama in 2012; whereby the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO), from its headquarters in Tunis, launched the Architectural and Urban Heritage Observatory project in the Arab countries on 4 October 2016, to provide technical assistance to the Arab states by mobilizing academic and professional skills in the fields of documentation, monitoring and evaluation for the reconstruction of Arab cities and the rescue of their archaeological and historical landmarks and sites in the post-conflict period, in addition to establishing an electronic platform through which ALECSO can coordinate and cooperate with governmental and non-governmental institutions and organizations specialized in this field to facilitate the exchange of information related to heritage preservation, and contribute to formulating the policies necessary to preserve the memory of Arab cities and promote them as a destination for cultural tourism.

Project working mechanism:

· Diagnosing, collecting data and assessing the state of preservation of the architectural and urban heritage in the Arab countries,

· Networking university competencies and professional expertise in the field of preserving the architectural and urban heritage in the Arab countries,

· Providing advice and technical assistance within the scope of formulating and implementing the project,

· Establishing a unified data bank on the urban and architectural heritage of the Arab countries.

General objectives of the project:

· Contributing to diagnosing the reality of the architectural and urban heritage in the Arab countries and raising awareness of it as one of the most prominent components of Arab cultural identity.

· Contributing to preserving and protecting it from oblivion, extinction and destruction in order to protect the shared collective memory.

· Contributing to reviving it, enhancing its value and integrating it into the economic and social cycle to achieve development.

· Contributing to the advancement of intangible cultural heritage, in particular, given the opportunities it offers for developing knowledge and professions in the field of cultural industries.

Specific objectives:

· Developing capacities in the field of protecting and reviving the architectural and urban heritage.

· Developing the laws and regulations related to the preservation and maintenance of the architectural and urban heritage.

· Encouraging participatory planning in the field of heritage preservation and maintenance.

· Protecting the cities currently under threat in the Arab countries undergoing delicate circumstances (Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya…).

Over the period from the launch of the Observatory to the ninth meeting held at the headquarters of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization – Tunis, 15–16 November 2024, the draft internal regulations of the Committee for Architectural and Urban Heritage in the Arab countries were approved, along with the explanatory regulation of the Charter for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage in the Arab States and the guiding framework for the Arab Urban Heritage Register, in addition to the approval of the nomination form for registering cultural properties in the Arab Urban Heritage Register, considering them open to future development if necessary.

At the ninth meeting, the Committee for Urban Heritage in the Arab States was formed from the liaison officers of the Architectural and Urban Heritage Observatory in the Arab countries, with the Director of the Culture Department of the Organization, in coordination with the general coordinator of the Observatory, to select the evaluation and registration committee.

Arab Heritage Register

It is a register of urban and architectural heritage at the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) concerned with registering the buildings, sites and areas of urban heritage in the Arab countries that represent heritage of significant artistic, scientific, civilizational or cultural value, or that reflect the features of a historical era or an important historical event for Arab civilization, in accordance with the definition set out in the Charter and its explanatory regulation.

Registration criteria

Cultural properties are registered in the Architectural and Urban Heritage Register in the Arab countries upon request from the state concerned, by filling out the form for registering cultural properties in the Arab Urban Heritage Register, and within a mechanism established by the registration and evaluation committee. The number of sites that can be submitted annually, the time periods for evaluation, the recommendation for acceptance and others are determined.

Nomination and evaluation track

In this session, a timeline for nomination and evaluation was proposed as follows:

· From month 1 to month 3: the nomination files are submitted by the states.

· From month 3 to month 7, the technical evaluation stage (the final stage), the completion of the evaluation and the recommendation on whether or not to register.

In light of this program, an official letter was sent to the Arab states, urging them to nominate urban landmarks and sites to be included in the Arab Urban Heritage Register from the beginning of January 2025, with no more than five sites for the first session. The Culture Department of the Organization received 48 nomination file forms for landmarks from 15 states, and referred them to the evaluation committee, which began its work in record time as a result of bringing forward the date of the tenth meeting of the Architectural and Urban Heritage Observatory in the Arab countries, which was held in the city of Beirut in the Lebanese Republic during the period 28–30 July 2025. After studying the files submitted by the states and evaluating them impartially, the evaluation committee nominated 19 landmarks to be the first batch to be registered in the Arab Heritage Register, for approval by the Committee for Urban Heritage in the Arab States.

The evaluation committee also discussed the acceptance of the nomination requests for the landmarks that had previously been submitted by some states to the Heritage Committee, numbering 10 landmarks. After serious discussion, the committee reached a decision to adopt the recommendation of the Committee for Urban Heritage in the Arab States to register these landmarks along with the landmarks it had nominated, provided that the states concerned be requested to amend the nomination forms so that they conform to the final approved form template.

At the tenth meeting of the Architectural and Urban Heritage Observatory in the Arab countries, which was held in the city of Beirut, the files of the landmarks nominated by the Committee for Urban Heritage in the Arab States were reviewed, and the recommendation of the evaluation committee regarding the previously submitted landmarks was discussed, and they were all approved, bringing the number of landmarks in the first batch registered in the Arab Heritage Register to 29 heritage landmarks, which we will review in alphabetical order, as follows: