Yemeni heritage cries for help [Archives:2002/25/Culture]

BY YASSER AL-MAYASSI
YEMEN TIMES STAFF
Officials say they need more help to showcase Yemens heritage, especially since theres a desire for Sanaa to be celebrated officially as the regions cultural capital in 2004,
Integral to preserving that heritage is Yemens General Organization for the Preservation of Historic Cities (GOPHCY), established by the government in 1997.
The GOPHCY is entrusted with preserving the cultural heritage and reviving Yemens traditional handicrafts.
It was created to preserve Yemens old cities before they fall into a state of decay and replaced by construction of new housing which distorts the historical image of Yemeni architecture.
Dr. Abdullah Zaid Ayssa, the Chairman of the GOPHCY sums up the main objectives of the GOPHCY as follows:
a) Preserving the cultural and historical monuments.
b) Raising awareness among people to the importance of the cultural heritage, particularly people who live in the historical cities.
c) Enacting laws concerning preserving the cultural heritage and training people to preserve the traditional handicrafts.
The main projects entrusted to the GOPHCY include preserving old cities such as Sanaa Old City, Shebam, Hadhramoot, Zabeed, Aden, and Jibla plus preserving traditional handicrafts.
GPHCY has faced many problems including its management aspect. Engineers have to leave their jobs and lose income when they choose to serve through the voluntary organization.
We tried to do our best to regain the internal management of the GOPHCY. We hope that others will cooperate with us. There is serious initiatives taken by the culture ministry to promote the GOPHCYs activities for the better, Zaid Ayssa said.
There are a lot of projects that have been entrusted to the GOPHCY and what is needed is the financial support. This will of course require a lot of time and money, he added.
Zaid Ayssa said another issue is that Yemens heritage has not been integrated with the urban planning process. The total planning process at both national and local levels has not been practiced in an effective planning framework.
He said its important to understand historical events and related development over all the country, understand climatic zones architecture typologies, history and cultural significance.
But there is a lack of inventory of cities, areas, sites and monuments, and theres an absence of knowledge about decay and inappropriate tools for conservation buildings and monuments.
So many problems lay in the fact that there is an interference of the Cultural Heritage Office, he also said.
In fact, the GOPHCYs main activity is to conduct projects of the cultural heritage activities. As a result of the GOPHCYs deficit, other organizations have to interfere such as the Cultural Heritage Office which is financed by the Dutch government and Social Development Fund.
These sectors could achieve dramatic shifts with regard to preserving the old historical cities such as, the Sanaa Old City, Zaid Ayssa said.
Dr. Abdullah Zaid has highly appreciated the leading role of these sectors in preserving the historical cities. But, the main thing is that these projects are entrusted to the GOPHCY.
Recently, procedures have been discussed with a view of coordinating with the concerned bodies such as, the Cultural Heritage Office and the Social Development Fund to finance these projects and that the GOPHCY has to conduct studies and supervise these projects.
Concerning the priorities given to the main cities such as, Old Sanaa and Zabeed, the GOPHCY has conducted studies in these cities to be presented to the government for allocating the budget.
We will be also pay more attention to the Old City of Sanaa because it is going to be the culture capital in 2004. The culture ministry will support us in this respect along with the Social Development Fund, the chairman of the GOPHCY said.
Old Sanaa has sustained a number of handicrafts and public markets that help Yemenis earn living. These markets as well as handicrafts have become part and parcel of their lives.
These public markets have been related to the Yemenis throughout the past decades. Here they used to meet to sell and buy commodities to sustain themselves.
In general, Yemen is known for its markets, however, the old city of Sanaa is still very much distinguished for its special features reflecting the past.
The handicrafts products are scattered in many shops of the old city. Thus, what is needed is to reactivate the role of these markets.
What is required is that special attention and support should be given to these handicrafts. It is also required to maintain these places and make them places fit to be visited by tourists. Exhibitions should also be organized so as to make our handicrafts known to all the people. The concerned bodies should also provide all these handicraftsmen with all the facilities and assistance to encourage them, said Zaid Ayssa.
If such places and workers are well looked after, the old city of Sanaa and other historical cities will be able to retain their old features that are gradually disappearing across the globe.

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