International Day for Monuments and Sites also known as World Heritage Day is an international observance held on 18 of April each year with the aim to promote awareness about the diversity of cultural heritage of humanity, their vulnerability and the efforts required for their protection and conservation. This year’s theme for World Heritage Day is “Complex Pasts: Diverse Futures”.
On the occasion yesterday, the Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage delivered a message to the nation stressing on the importance of our rich cultural heritage to our identity. In this regard, she notes that we must be thankful today that monuments and sites across the islands representing the separate traditions seen is different islands and atolls have been persevered in good condition up until our generation – also making it our responsibility to preserve it for the future generations.
Moreover, these monuments and sites are incorporated into the Maldives tourism product, especially so in sustainable tourism development making it integral to achieve economic progress.
Hence, we as a community must recognize that our cultural heritage is invaluable whereas we must work together to protect and preserve our monuments and sites.
As part of an effort to preserve the Maldivian culture and heritage, this administration began forming a list of all heritage sites across the Maldives to which over 400 have been added to the list.
(Photo: Minister Yumna Twitter)