The application for the inscription of the island of Djerba on the UNESCO World Heritage List has finally been accepted by the UNESCO, which will send a delegation of experts to the island in the south-east of Tunisia to inspect the state of the proposed sites and monuments.
The Ministry of Cultural Affairs was notified on March 1, scientific coordinator of the Djerba application for Unesco’s World Heritage List Mongi Bourgou stated to TAP correspondent in Medenine.
He considered “that this step requires the assumption of a shared responsibility between the regional and local authorities and the local civil society ahead of the inspection visit of the UNESCO experts.”
With an area of 514 km2, Djerba is one of the most strategic locations in the heart of the Mediterranean. The Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) selected for Djerba’s bid is a series of properties (Menzel, Houch, mosques, fondouks, oil mills,…), says the Associationfor the Safeguarding of the Island of Djerba (ASM).
“A list of 24 monuments, proposed for listing, are located all over the island and touch the whole territory with a concentration that follows geographically the fertile crescent. The proposed monuments are 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, the Ghriba Synagogue and the Saint Nicolas Church.”
Tunisia counts 7 sites and monuments classified as world heritage, from 1979 to 1997: Medina of Tunis / Site of Carthage /Amphitheatre of El Jem (1979), Site of Kerkouane (1986), Medina of Sousse / Medina of Kairouan (1988) and the Site of Dougga (1997) From that date until today, no other new Tunisian site has been inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage List.
