Algeria Announces Cultural, Natural Sites Proposed for Tentative World Heritage List

ALGIERS – The Algerian Minister of Culture and Arts, Zouhir Ballalou, revealed on Saturday, in Algiers, the cultural and natural sites proposed for inscription on the Tentative World Heritage List, including 11 sites of “’outstanding universal value.”

In his speech he delivered during a scientific conference entitled: “Updating the Tentative World Heritage List in Algeria,” organized at Moufdi Zakaria Palace of Culture, the minister underscored that the updating and enrichment of this list “mirrors the natural and cultural richness and diversity of the country as well as the historical and civilizational depth of Algeria.”

This list, developed by executives from the Ministry of Culture and Arts, and that of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries, with the support of experts and university researchers, constitutes “a window into Algeria’s ancestral history” and “an essential tool to understand the evolution of human civilization through the ages,” but also “a component of cultural identity,” emphasized the minister.

The list includes two natural sites: Djurdjura National Park (located in Tizi Ouzou and Bouira provinces) and El Kala National Park (in El Tarf province), as well as two mixed sites combining natural and cultural significance: Tafedest in the Ahaggar Cultural Park (Tamanrasset province) and the region encompassing the Ghoufi Balconies and El Kantara (spanning Batna and Biskra provinces).

The list also includes two cultural landscapes: Nedroma and Trara (in Tlemcen province) and the Ghout irrigation system (in El Oued province). It also includes five cultural sites: the Ksour of the Algerian Saharan Atlas within the Saharan Atlas Cultural Park (spanning Laghouat, El Bayadh, and Naâma provinces); the Royal Mausoleums from antiquity across Algeria (located in Batna, Constantine, Tipaza, Aïn Témouchent, Tiaret, and Tamanrasset provinces); the archaeological heritage of Tébessa city; the Fortresses of the Touat-Gourara-Tidikelt Cultural Park (in Adrar and Timimoun provinces); and the Augustinian sites and routes distributed throughout several provinces in eastern and central Algeria.