The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has finally accepted the dossier for the registration of the Island of Djerba as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Speaking to the (official) “Tunis Afrique Presse” (TAP) news agency, the scientific coordinator of Djerba’s registration file on the UNESCO World Heritage List, Mongi Bourgou, said that ‘ ‘the stage requires assuming a shared responsibility between regional and local public authorities and local civil society, in anticipation of the inspection visit by UNESCO experts’. And to add that the Ministry of Cultural Affairs was informed on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.
Indeed, a list of 24 monuments proposed for registration are located throughout the island.
These are the following monuments: ”The mosques: Sidi Salem, Sidi Smain, Tajdit, Abou Messouer (Al Jamaa El Kebir), Cheikh, 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 Saint Nicolas Church.”
The objective of this World Heritage Convention is the recognition of these sites “of Outstanding Universal Value” as World Heritage, and which it is important to protect and pass on to future generations, TAP reported.
It should be recalled that Tunisia has 7 sites and monuments classified as World Heritage from 1979 to 1997, namely: the Medina of Tunis / the site of Carthage / the Amphitheater of EL Jem (1979), the site of Kerkouane (1986), the Medina of Sousse / the Medina of Kairouan (1988) and the Site of Dougga (1997). From this date until today, no other new Tunisian site has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
For years, Tunisia has not stopped multiplying the steps relating to the inscription of the island of Djerba on the tentative list of World Heritage without succeeding in obtaining the favorable agreement of the UN experts.
