The Soqotra Heritage Project seeks to increase knowledge about the Cultural Heritage of the Soqotra Archipelago, and increase awareness about cultural heritage through a range of events, campaigns and trainings both on Soqotra and in a global context.
The “Mission Statement” of the Soqotra Heritage Project – the rationale for undertaking this work – can be seen in the following short film:
In comparison to the relatively well-studied natural heritage of Soqotra, cultural heritage in all its forms is poorly understood, poorly documented, and suffers from an almost complete lack of formal conservation or protection. As a first step towards conservation of cultural heritage, the Soqotra Heritage Project – funded by the DCMS and the British Council through the Cultural Protection Fund – seeks to address awareness and knowledge by the following actions:
Increase capacity of Soqotri people to recognize, identify, document and assess the condition of cultural heritage assets;
Document Soqotri cultural heritage in an open access resource;
Raise awareness about the cultural heritage of Soqotra through a range of events encompassing the full range of Soqotri society and beyond;
Explore the potential for cultural and natural heritage to contribute to conservation and sustainable development of the Soqotra Archipelago.
In the following sections, you can learn about how the Soqotra Heritage Project has trained a team of cultural heritage experts on Soqotra, how they have documented both tangible and intangible heritage, and experience some of the cultural heritage of Soqotra for yourself through examples of heritage events as well as education and awareness campaigns. A major output of the Soqotra Heritage Project is the Soqotra Heritage Database which can be accessed online here: Soqotra Heritage Database
