President of Republic orders creation of International Centre for Calligraphic Arts

President of the Republic Kaïs Saïed ordered, on Wednesday, the achievement of a project for an International Centre for the Arts of Calligraphy to be built next to the City of Culture, Chedly Klibi. The architecture of the building will be inspired by the shape of the Arabic word “Ikraa” (“Read”).

This decision was announced during President Saied’s meeting at the Carthage Palace with Hayet Ketat Guermazi, Minister of Cultural Affairs.

This Centre dedicated to calligraphy in different languages will be unique in the Arab world, reads a statement from the Presidency of the Republic published in the afternoon. “Several parties have expressed their willingness to participate in the implementation of this pilot project,” the same source said.

The presidency of the Republic presented a project for a Centre for Calligraphy Arts which “will contribute to the promotion of research, studies, data collection and documentation in the field of Arabic calligraphy and other calligraphic arts.

This new project will host important exhibitions and forums in its various spaces. It will consist of a conference hall, a space for training and workshops, in addition to a museum dedicated to Arabic calligraphy and other calligraphic arts.

The President of the Republic recommended “to hasten the implementation of this project which will promote the influence of Arabic calligraphy as an art of the Arab-Islamic civilization,” reads the same source.

He also considered “a project with a cultural and tourist vocation that will help safeguard the national cultural heritage and a future destination for people interested in other cultures”.

President Said’s meeting with the Minister of Cultural Affairs also focused on other aspects of the cultural sector, including the creation of Arabic calligraphy clubs in schools and high schools, in partnership with the Ministry of Education.

This orientation is in line with the concern to “widen the practice of this art among the young generation, especially in the light of the use of modern writing techniques”.

The President of the Republic referred to the state of the houses of culture, “some of which require restoration and development work such as the Ibn Khaldun and Ibn Rachiq houses of culture in the capital and other houses in different regions of the republic”.

He also stressed the role of festivals in cultural promotion. Culture plays an essential role in the life of peoples who “cannot exist without a national culture that is inspired by history but remains open to other cultures,” Saïed said.

The preservation of the rich heritage of Tunisian libraries, notably the National Library of Tunisia, was also at the centre of the meeting.

The president stressed the importance of the Department of Cultural Affairs as “one of the sectors of sovereignty.”

“There will be no future for a people without culture, nor a future for culture if it is transformed into a mere commodity,” said Saïed, insisting in this respect on the risk of seeing culture thus lose its noble role in the promotion of thought and the arts.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse