Partner 8 - CULTNAT, The National Center for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Egypt

The Egyptian Cultural Heritage has a worldwide interest and importance due to its continuity over a period of seven thousand years: it encompasses various aspects of civilization mirroring the development of human heritage. It is therefore equally of national and international value. On the other hand, Egypt possesses a vast variety of natural resources due to the combination of the Nile valley with the desert and the seashores extending about two thousand kilometres. That is why the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has incorporated in its program the creation of a “National Center for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage”, as part of the National Project of Technology Renaissance of Egypt. The Center was established in January 2000.

This Center has, among its targets, the following objectives:

  • Documentation of the Egyptian cultural heritage with both its aspects: tangible and intangible.
  • Documentation of the Egyptian natural heritage that includes the natural reserves as well as the natural areas not yet inscribed under environmental preservation.
  • Implementation of a national plan to execute this documentation program using the latest information technology in collaboration with the national and international specialized organizations.
  • Building awareness about this heritage using all available publishing media: electronic and physical.
  • Training of professionals in the field of preservation and documentation of cultural and natural heritage.

Role of partner

Partner CULTNAT, with the assistance of consultant Prof. Fekri Hassan, will be in charge of research related to River Management & water catchment techniques in Egypt (WP8).

Principal personnel involved in the project:

Dr. Fathi Saleh

Is currently professor of computer engineering at Cairo University. In the mean time, he is the director of the “National Center for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage”, which is a part of the Ministry of Communications and information Technology. He is also member of the Supreme Council of Culture. During the years 1995-97 he occupied the position of Cultural Councilor at the embassy of Egypt in Paris, and from 1997-1999, he was the ambassador of Egypt to the UNESCO. Dr Saleh was graduated from the Faculty of Engineering - Cairo University and got his PhD from the University of Paris – France. His main interest is the application of the new technologies in the different fields of Cultural and Natural Heritage.

Prof . Fekri Hassan

Petrie Professor of Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology & Department of Egyptology, University College London. Consultant in the same university for the “Division of Water Science.” He his specialized in historical monuments related to hydrology, including Qanat.

Professor Hassan (b. 1943 in Cairo, Egypt) is the President of the International Water History Association (IWHA). He serves on the editorial board of Water Policy. He is the author of numerous publications on rivers, dams, playas (ancient lakes), climate change and traditional water techniques. He is the editor-in-chief of the UNESCO 7 volume series on Water History and Civilization, and the editor of Traditional Water Techniques for a Sustainable Future as well as the Policy Brief on Traditional Water Systems. He was trained both as a geologist and archaeologist, receiving the Award of the Geological Society of America, Archaeological Geology Division  in 1992.

Professor Hassan currently occupies the Petrie Chair of Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology at University College London.  Professor Hassan holds advanced degrees both in geology from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, and archaeology from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, USA.  Prof. Hassan has been closely engaged with UNESCO International Hydrological Program as a founding member of the ‘Water and Civilization’ Program. He has been commissioned to  produce a benchmark document on Water and Civilization (with Jerri della Priscoli).  He serves as a member of the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology  on the (COMEST) Working Group on the Ethics of Freshwater Use, following his tenure as a member of the task force contributing to the historical perspective on the topic. He also served as a member of the UNESCO-Green Cross PC>CP Program (From Potential for Conflict to Co-operation Potential) contributing to the final report and the deliberations at the World Water Council in Kyoto. Professor Hassan as an archaeologist is concerned with the history and management of water heritage. He has co-edited Dams and Cultural Heritage Management(in press) with the aim of promoting the protection of cultural heritage endangered by the construction of dams.  He has also proposed a “Water Heritage Working Group” within the World Water Council (currently under consideration) and a model project to engage peoples from the Nile Basin countries in writing their water history and protecting their water heritage. Hassan is the founder of the Geoarchaeology laboratory at Washington State University, and a founding member of the Geological Archaeology division of the Geological Society of America. His publications in geoarchaeology include sedimentological investigations, environmental reconstructions, mineralogical studies, palaeoclimatic interpretations, radiocarbon dating, conservation, and the relationship between people and their geological environment and climate change. His recently published book (2002) Ecological Change and Food Security in Africa’s Later Prehistory reflects Prof. Hassan’s interest in the impact of climatic variability on culture change, but also his ongoing commitment to engage archaeology in contemporary human affairs.

Professor Hassan  is the Editor of the African Archaeological Review  and serves on the editorial board of many journals including the Holocene.  He served on the editorial board of Antiquity, and served as the Vice-President of the World Archaeology Congress.  In addition to his reputation as a distinguished scholar in archaeology with more than two hundred publications, Professor Hassan has devoted his time over the last 15 years to tackle issues of cultural heritage management.  In 2001, he edited 'A strategic Approach to Egyptian Cultural Heritage Management' (sponsored by UNESCO WHC and UNDP).  He is currently engaged with the development of an action plan for the management of the sites of the St. Katherine Monastery area, soon to be declared a World Heritage Site, the cultural heritage component of an Explorer’s visitor center in the Red Sea Governorate, Egypt, the development of a cutting-edge Website under development by IBM on ‘The Legacy of Egyptian Civilization’, the establishment of a computerized data base of Egyptian cultural heritage elements in archaeological sites and museums. He is He is the honorary President of the Egyptian Cultural Heritage Organization, a non-profitable organization for promoting sustainable management of Egyptian cultural heritage.

Hassan is an avid fieldworker who led numerous expeditions to the Egyptian Sahara (Siwa, Farafra and Baharia Oases), Upper Egypt (Nagada), Sinai, and the Red Sea Hills and Kafr Hassan Dawood (East Delta) in Egypt.  He is currently collaborating with UNESCO World Heritage Center (WHC) for developing a global world heritage training program, and with UNESCO WHC and the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities for developing a training program in archaeology and cultural heritage management in Egypt. In 1989-1990, Professor Hassan was the archaeology advisor to the Egyptian Minister of Culture.

Publications:

  • Hassan, F.A., 1999 Wonderful Water (in Arabic). Alhadara Press, Cairo;
  • Hassan, F.A., 1999 (forthcoming) Water and Civilization (with J. del Priscolli).

Dr. Reem Bahgat

Associate Prof. at faculty of Computers and Information, Cairo University. She is assistant director of the “National Center for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage”. Dr. Bahgat got her PhD in 1991 from Imperial college, University of London U.K and her Bsc in 1985 from the faculty of science, Kuwait university – Kuwait. She has done several consultancy work in the field of cultural and natural heritage as part of her work in CULTNAT as well as her work with the cabinet of Information and Decision support center ( IDSC ) and the regional information technology and software engineering center ( RITSEC ). She has got several scientific awards and was involved in several European community projects.