The Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Othman El Ferdaous, stressed, Thursday in Rabat, the need to erect the digitization of heritage as one of the main factors of development.
Speaking at the opening of an international scientific meeting on “digitization in the service of the protection and promotion of cultural heritage”, the Minister noted that the effects of the pandemic have directed attention towards interior spaces to the detriment of spaces open to the general public.
“The digitization of heritage is a lever for the enhancement of open spaces that have been affected by the closures imposed by the pandemic”, said Ferdaous at the opening of an international scientific meeting on “digitization in the service of the protection and promotion of cultural heritage”, organized by the Foundation for the Safeguarding of Cultural Heritage of Rabat, chaired by HRH Princess Lalla Hasnaa.
This project will be the first model experimental site for the digitalization of heritage through the use of augmented reality to offer guided tours and games for local and international visitors.
He also welcomed the initiatives launched by the Foundation to enrich the debate on many issues related to cultural matters in its various manifestations, underlining the crucial role of modern technologies in the documentation and protection of the tangible and intangible heritage of the Morocco, as well as the democratization of access to culture.
For his part, the Secretary General of the Foundation, Karim Tajmouati noted that this meeting, which is part of the cycle of scientific events regularly organized by the Foundation, tackles a very topical subject, moreover, particularly captivating.
“In a country with a thousand-year-old history, marked by an exceptional diversity and cultural richness, it is becoming essential to ensure that our heritage is not only preserved, but above all to ensure that our future generations can access and enjoy it. find the benchmarks necessary to build their future ”, he insisted on emphasizing.
Tajmouati noted that ” digital technology makes it possible to preserve the past, protect memory and provide heritage and art with a certain ability to navigate in time and space ”.
This focused on the site of Borj Lekbir, a fortification dating from the end of the 19th century known as Fort Hervé, which has been completely digitized by LIDAR technology.
In his opinion, “The realization of this practical case, and the terms of the reflection and technical exchanges that will take place during today’s meeting, should therefore serve as a starting point for a broader strategy in terms of the digitization of heritage cultural and historical in our country ”.
This scientific meeting brings together several national and international partners, including the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, the United States Embassy in Morocco, the American Agency for International Development (USAID), the Development Agency of Digital (ADD), Mohammed VI Polytechnic University and Mohammed V University of Rabat.
Since the inscription of Rabat on the world heritage of humanity in 2012, the Foundation for the safeguarding of the cultural heritage of Rabat has been consecrated as a transversal body for the coordination of actions for safeguarding and enhancing the heritage provided for by the management plan, a governance tool for the property inscribed by UNESCO.
The Foundation’s vocation is to perpetuate and transmit the historical, architectural, artistic, landscape, material and immaterial values inherent in the Cultural Heritage of Rabat.
To do this, it ensures the monitoring of current and existing projects, promotes synergy between the actors concerned with the safeguard of heritage and works for awareness, promotion and assessment of the state of conservation of the heritage.
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