The Challenges for Preserving Glorious Heritage of Sudan: Status and Solutions

Authors

  • Maha Mohani Fahmi Sudan University of Science and Technology image/svg+xml
  • Yahaya Ahmad University of Malaya image/svg+xml
  • Helena Hashim University of Malaya Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Built Environment, University of Malaya

Keywords:

cultural heritage, conservation practice issues, capacity building, local awareness

Abstract

Heritage conservation is always of interest to contemporary society. But the practice is often vague and full of challenges that need a multidisciplinary specialist. Cultural heritage conservation has also been recognized as an essential part of countries’ development plans, yet it faces multi-dimensional challenges and pressures. The threats to it have been acknowledged by the global community and national governments alike. This has generated actions such as international charters and guidelines in order to organize, govern and control any sort of intervention. Sudan has a rich history and very ancient civilization. But now most archaeological sites are under threat. The country is seeking help from international missions in order to protect the broad range of its heritage. This includes missions from European countries such as Germany, Britain, France and Poland. This analytical study examines the content of the license and the archeological law in order to find the gaps that lead to issues in heritage conservation practice. The paper highlights the challenges and issues and makes some recommendation for the future. The experience of Sudan is not isolated and it provides a beneficial case study, which may offer valuable lessons to other developing countries. Conservation of heritage is a cultural issue, and so capacity building and local awareness play a crucial role in enhancing and sustaining conservation projects.

Author Biographies

  • Maha Mohani Fahmi, Sudan University of Science and Technology

    Maha. M. Fahmi is presently an assistant professor in Sudan University of Science and Technology, College of Architecture and Planning. She graduated with a first-class honors degree from an architectural college in 2004 and has worked as a practicing architect since then. She earned her Master degree in building science at university of Malaya.  She obtained her PhD 2019 at University of Malaya. Currently, she is the coordinator of the postgraduates’ studies. Her area of interest includes sustaining cultural heritage in order to protect it for future generations. She is also interested in enhancing architectural education via improving the teaching methods. In addition, she has written and presented various academic papers in conferences in Malaysia and Indonesia. She has also published 3 papers on enhancing architectural education.

  • Yahaya Ahmad, University of Malaya

    Yahaya Ahmad is faculty of  Architecture and the Dean of the Faculty of Built Environment, University of Malaya (UM). Starting his career at the University Teknologi MARA (UiTM) he shifted to University of Malaya where he  establish the department of Architecture and the Faculty of Built Environment. He was involved in the drafting of the National Heritage Act (2005) Malaysia, headed team of local and international experts to prepare Nomination Dossier for Melaka and George Town as World Unesco Heritage Sites, and headed expert teams in the re-construction of Bastion Middlesburg, Melaka Fort. Appointed by Ahmedabad Municipal Council, India as International Expert to advice on the preparation of Nomination Dossier for the Historic City of Ahmedabad (2011) and by the Government of the Republic of Maldiver (2011) to prepare Nomination Dossier of Coral Stone Mosque of Maldiver to the Unesco World Heritage list.

  • Helena Hashim, University of Malaya Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Built Environment, University of Malaya

    Helena Hashim is presently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Built Environment, and University of Malaya. She obtained her PhD 2017 AT University of Malaya. She was the Head of the Architectural Department for several years. She is also a member of many national and international organizations. She has several publications in the area of conservation.

References

Afify, & Ayman (2014). Sustainable Improvement and Management for Deteriorated Urban Area in Developing Countries. Paper presented at the WORLD SB14 BARCELONA, Barcelona, Spain

Ali Hakem, A M (1988). Meroitic Architecture: A Background of an African Civilization. Khartoum, Sudan: Khartoum University Press.

Ashely, Katherine, Mohamed. Osmani, Stephen. Emmitt, Michael. Mallinson, and Helen. Mallinson. 2014. ‘Impacts of Cultural Dynamics on Conservation of Suakin, Sudan.’ Engineering Sustainability no. 167 (6):264-278.

Bandarin, Francesco (2007). World Heritage – Challenges for the Millenium. Edited by Sophia Labadi. Paris, France: Unesco World Heritage Centre.

Chapman, William (2005-2009). Asia Conserved: Lessons Learned from the Unesco Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation 2005-2009: World Heritage Series. Vol. 2: Unesco.

CHDA (1983). ‘Heritage and Civilization.’ The Journal of the Regional Centre for Conservation of Cultural Property no. 4 (2).

CHDA (2007). Centre for Heritage Development in Africa. The 9th Regional Course on Conservation and Management of Immovable Cultural Heritage in sub-Saharian Africa, Mombasa, Kenya. edited by ICCROM in collaboration with CHDA in Africa and National Museums of Kenya.

Diab, Ola (2017). Musawwarat es Sufra: A Unique Archeological Site in Sudan 2013 [cited 6 March 2017. Available from https://oladiab.com/2013/11/03/musawwarat-es-sufra-a-unique-archeological-site-in-sudan/.

Education and Culture DG (2010). Preservation and restoration of historical monuments in Germany, Italy, Estonia and in Turkey Report on research and analysis. Lifelong Learning Programme.

Elnokaly, Amira, and Ahmed Elseragy (2013). ‘Sustainable Heritage Development: Learning from Urban Conservation of Heritage Projects in Non-Western Contexts.’ European Journal of Sustainable Development no. 2.1:31-54.

Fahmi, Maha M, Ahmad Yahaya, and Hashim Helena (2018). ‘Understanding the Values of the Forgotten World Heritage Pyramids in Sudan.’ Indian Journal of Applied Research no. 8 (6):431-434.

Gireesh Kumar T. K. (2021b), ‘Developing a Sustainable Cultural Heritage Information System’, Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 38 No. 6, pp. 17-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-08-2021-0053

Gireesh Kumar, T K and Raman Nair, R (2021). Conserving Knowledge Heritage: Opportunities and Cchallenges in Conceptualizing Cultural Heritage Information System (CHIS) in the Indian Context. Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. Available at https://doi.org/10.1108/GKMC-02-2021-0020

Gireesh Kumar, T. K. (2021a). Designing a Comprehensive Information System for Safeguarding the Cultural Heritage: Need for Adopting Architectural Models and Quality Standards, Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). 5392. Available at https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/5392

Harun, S. N (2011). Heritage Building Conservation in Malaysia: Experience and Challenges. Paper Presented at the 2nd International Building Control Conference, Universiti Teknologi MARA Perak, Malaysia.

Hawass, Zahi (1995). ‘The Egyptian Monuments: Problems and Solutions.’ International Journal of Cultural and property no. 4 (01).

Heinich, N (2011). The Making of Cultural Heritage. The Nordic Journal of Aesthetics 40-41, 119-128.

Hinkel, Friedrich W (1991). Meroitic Architecture. The Kingdom of Naptan and Meroe.

Hinkel, Friedrich W (1997). ‘Meroitic Architecture: In Sudan Ancient Kingdoms of the Nile.’ Meroitic Architecture: 393-415.

Hinkel, Friedrich W (2000). The Royal Pyramids of Meroe. Architecture, Construction and Reconstruction of a Scared Landscape. Sudan & Nubia, 11-26.

ICOMOS (2013). Principles for Capacity Building through Education and Training in Safeguarding and Integrated Conservation of Cultural Heritage. Edited by ICOMOS- CIF Capacity Building. Rome, Italy.

Jokilehto, J (1986). A History of Architectural Conservation. (D.Phil ), The University of York, England Retrieved from https://www.iccrom.org/sites/default/files/ICCROM_05_HistoryofConservation00_en_0.pdf.

Jokilehto, Jukka (1998). ‘The context of the Venice Charter (1964).’ Conservation and Management for the Archaeological Sites no. 2:229-233.

Lam, S (2008). Conservation of Historic Buildings in Hong Kong. Architectural Services Department, HKSAR.

May, R (2010). ‘Heritage and Protection Plans Awareness in France.’ Guggenheim Bilbao.

New Zealand, Ministry for the Environment (2006). ‘Section 3: Raising Awareness Tools.’ In Urban Design Toolkit. New Zealand: Ministry for the Environment.

Peacock, A. Rizz, I., & Peacock, A T (2008). The heritage game: economics, policy, and practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Perhavec, Daniela Dvornik, Danijel Rebolj, and Nataša Šuman (2015). ‘Systematic Approach for Sustainable Conservation.’ Journal of Cultural Heritage no. 16 (1):81-87.

Radzuan, M., & Ahmad, Y (2016). Assessing Cultural Heritage Potential: A Framework to Incorporate Incentives Programme into Heritage Strategies. Medwell Journals, 12(11), 2916-2921.

Torbay Council (2011). Torbay Heritage Strategy. UK: Torbey development agency.

Unesco (2011). Archaeological Sites of the Island of Meroe, Outstanding Universal Value. edited by ICOMOS: World Heritage Centre.

Unesco (2014) Gebel Barkal and the Sites of the Napatan Region (Sudan) (C 1073) 2014. Available from https://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/5993.

Unesco (2014a).Unesco Archives AtoM Catalogue (2014). Available from https://atom.archives.unesco.org/legal-instruments.

Unesco (2016). Unesco implemented the first phase of the project ‘Strengthening Local Capacities for the Emergency Conservation of Historical Archives in the Areas Affected by the April 2016 Earth quake in Ecuador 2016. Available from http://en.unesco.org/.

Welsby, Derek A (1998). The Kingdom of Kush- The Napatan and Meroitic Empires. U.K: Markus Wiener Princeton.

World Heritage Centre (2012). Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention. Edited by World Heritage Centre Unesco. Paris, France Unesco, World Heritage Centre.

Downloads

Published

2022-05-25

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 2 (2022): Heritage Informatics

Section

Articles

License

Submission of a manuscript to IS indicates that the work is original, has not been previously published (except as an abstract, lecture, or thesis), and is not under consideration by another journal. By submitting, authors affirm that their manuscript meets the journal’s ethical and editorial standards and that they agree to the terms of copyright and licensing upon acceptance.

Once accepted for publication, authors grant IS the first publication rights to the work. However, authors retain full copyright of their content and remain the legal owners of their intellectual property.

IS provides open access to all published articles six months after the release of the respective volume. Once the embargo period concludes, articles are made freely available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This license allows users to share, adapt, and reuse the work in any medium or format provided that appropriate credit is given to the original authors and the initial publication in this journal.

The journal's delayed open access model supports global knowledge dissemination, ensuring that research is accessible without financial or legal barriers. Authors are also encouraged to archive their published articles in institutional repositories, personal websites, or other platforms, with full citation of the journal version. Pre-print versions posted online should include a citation and link to the final published version in IS as soon as the issue is available; post-print versions (including the final publisher's PDF) should include a citation and link to the journal's website.

All materials published in the IS website are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution license, unless otherwise noted.