"Rehabilitation of Souk al-Saqatiya" in Aleppo, Syria, winner project of the Grand Award in the Heritage Sites and Buildings category 2020.

Under the patronage of H.H Sheikh Dr Sultan Bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and the Ruler of Sharjah, ICCROM-Sharjah has announced the jury for the third cycle of the Award for Good Practices in Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management in the Arab Region (2021-2022).

In every biennial cycle, the jury is selected from among many distinguished and well-known experts and specialists at both Arab and international levels. This year, the seven independent members represent several scientific, academic and cultural backgrounds that are closely related to the themes and objectives of the Award, including the fields of architecture, restoration and preservation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, museum, libraries, and others.

Jury members

  • Sheikh Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi is a columnist and researcher on social, political, and cultural affairs in the Arab Gulf states. Al-Qassemi is also the founder of the Barjeel Art Foundation in Sharjah, UAE. He was an MIT Media Lab Director’s Fellow and a visiting teacher at several prestigious centers and universities around the world.
  • Dr Ulrike Al-Khamis is the Director and CEO of the Aga Khan Museum. She is a well-known expert in the field of Islamic Art with over 20 years of experience as a curator and senior advisor for museum and cultural projects. She holds a PhD from the University of Edinburgh and served as Co-Director at the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization.
  • Ms Manal Ataya is the Director-General of Sharjah Museums Authority (SMA), a museology professional with over 15 years of senior managerial experience in museum development and cultural diplomacy. She serves on numerous advisory boards, including Global Cultural Districts Network, the University of Sharjah’s College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and ICCROM.
  • Dr Stefano Di Caro is an internationally recognized figure in the field of archaeology and cultural heritage. He graduated from the Naples University “Federico II” in 1972, and specialized in Classical Greek and Roman Archaeology at the Italian National School of Archaeology. In addition to his field assignments and administrative positions at the Italian Ministry of Culture, he served as Director-General of Antiquities in Italy and Director-General (by-election) of ICCROM from 2011 to 2017.
  • Dr Amra Hadžimuhamedović is Director of the Centre for Cultural Heritage, International Forum Bosnia. She has been the leading expert in implementing Annex 8 of the Dayton Peace Accord for Bosnia and Herzegovina, managing diverse projects integrating cultural heritage into postwar recovery in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Palestine. She has worked as a consultant for UNESCO, ICCROM, World Bank, ICOMOS International, and others.
  • Dr Salah M. Hassan is the Director of The Africa Institute, Sharjah, UAE. He is a Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences in African Studies, and Director of the Institute for Comparative Modernities, and Professor of Art History and Visual Culture in the Africana Studies and Research Center, and the Department of History of Art and Visual Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, US. He is an art critic, curator, and founding editor of Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art.
  • Mr Jad Tabet is an architect and planner working between Beirut and Paris. He is the former president of the Lebanese Federation of Engineers and Architects (2017-2021) and the Organization of Arab Architects (2017-2020). He is currently the Honorary President of ICOMOS LEBANON and has authored several academic publications on war and reconstruction and the relationship between heritage and modernity.

The jury will meet later this month to review and shortlist the entries to the award. The winning projects will be announced at a special ceremony in Sharjah in May.

More about the award

The ICCROM-Sharjah Award for Good Practices in Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management in the Arab Region was first launched in 2017. It aims to honor and reward outstanding work contributing to the protection and vitality of tangible cultural heritage in the Arab world, with two main categories:

  • heritage sites and buildings, and
  • safeguard of collections in cultural institutions such as museums and archives.

In the award’s previous cycle, the Grand Award for the first category was won by a project funded and implemented by the Aga Khan Development Network, which rehabilitated Souk al-Saqatiya in Aleppo, Syria. The Grand Award for the second category won by a project called Digitizing and First Aid to Documentary Heritage of Manuscripts Collection of the Great Omari Mosque Library, presented by the University College of Applied Sciences in Gaza, Palestine.