Share Story
AMMAN — Sponsored by HH Princess Dana Firas, Al Balqa Applied University (BAU) organised a two-day workshop on Monday, titled "Youth Voice for Heritage Protection".
The event was part of the annual Diwan gathering, which was organised in collaboration with the Council for British Research in the Levant, The American Centre of Research , institute francais du Proche- Orient and the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology ( GPIA).
The workshop aimed at promoting dialogue between academic institutions and civil society, and engaged young people in efforts to protect intangible and tangible cultural heritage.
In her speech, Princess Dana expressed her happiness to be at the event, praising the intellectual vitality of the students and their interaction with the issues of cultural heritage protection.
The princess highlighted the importance of employing youth in creative paths that combine originality and skill, calling for the promotion of a culture of innovation, broadening community participation and advancing the Jordanian civil legacy on foundations of awareness and responsibility.
BAU Vice-chancellor Shadi Al Hamouri stressed that organising this event comes in line with the university's vision of supporting national heritage preservation pathways, developing specialised academic programmes and boosting partnerships with civil and cultural society institutions.
He noted that the university recently contacted Jerash College to offer quality programmes in the areas of maintenance and restoration of heritage buildings, digital marketing of archaeological sites and heritage photography.
Hamouri said that students participating in the Heritage Council underwent field experiments to discover architectural embroidery as one of the symbols of local visual identity.
In a speech during the event, Director General of the Department of Antiquities (DoA) Fauzi Abudanah emphasised the “exceptional” position that the city of Salt occupies as a “living” model that reflects rich cultural heritage of Jordan.
“It is certain that Balqa Governorate is brimming with a rich civil and historical heritage that requires joint efforts to preserve,” Abudanah said, adding that the DoA in the past took an active role in preserving historical building in Salt as well as launching awareness programmes and community initiatives in collaboration with universities and cultural institutions.
"The event was planned to be held three to four times a year and its goal was to introduce scholarly papers of students and fresh graduates to wider academic community," said Director of the GPIA Brita Jansen, adding that these events were created in order to boost collaboration between foreign institutes and Jordanian universities.
Each year, a different university serves as a host to Diwan and in this way cooperation between Jordanian academic institutions and four international institutes continues, Jansen underlined, noting that the broad spectrum of presentation includes archaeology, architecture and protection of cultural heritage.
The event saw broad participation from the university students, who offered progressive insights and recommendations on protecting archaeological sites and ways to integrate technology and society in heritage conservation efforts.
The interactive workshops also covered topics related to digital documentation, heritage management and innovation in the presentation of heritage sites.
