TUNIS — Director General of the Arab Organization for Education, Culture and Science (ALECSO) Dr. Mohamed Ould Omar has congratulated Saudi Arabia over the success of the Arabic Calligraphy Year that was adopted by the Ministry of Culture during 2020 and 2021 through a series of events and activities that aimed at enhancing the presence of the Arabic calligraphy in the society, preserving it and celebrating its arts.

In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), he said: “I extend my sincere thanks to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, under the leadership of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, for their interest in establishing the Prince Mohammed bin Salman International Center for Arabic Calligraphy, considering it a very important step that will contribute to saving the Arabic calligraphy from the distortion it has reached, and restoring its status. It is also a project to preserve the Arab culture and calligraphy, and is one of the religiously and culturally important issues due to its great role in preserving the Arab heritage and forwarding the history to future generations.”

He added: “The Arabic calligraphy enjoys great importance, especially that we all know the leading role it played in the Arab and Islamic civilization, and the impact that this calligraphy and its longstanding civilization left on human heritage in general; the Arabic calligraphy has played a pivotal role as a transporter of knowledge over years and contributed to preserving cognitive and cultural heritage.”

He also expressed his gratitude and appreciation to Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, the Minister of Culture, for Saudi Arabia’s success in cooperating with the ALECSO to register the Arabic calligraphy on UNESCO’s list of intangible heritage, stressing that these endeavors reflect the high level of cooperation and integration between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and ALECSO in all that would serve the joint Arab action.

The Director General also commended the Minister of Arab Culture’s vision and his direct interest in reviving the heritage of Arab culture, such as his initiative in reviving the Dar Al-Qalam Center, so that it becomes an international center with the name of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He also stressed that this reflects the Saudi Vision 2030’s pride in Arabic calligraphy, its authenticity, history and arts, expressing his confidence that the center will be a practical gate through providing the opportunity for specialists in Arabic calligraphy to present their views and ideas via lectures, symposiums and meetings.

He also noted that changing the center into a universal platform for calligraphy and calligraphers will definitely serve the Arabic calligraphy due to its being a universal cross-culture communications means in the fields of heritage, arts, architecture and design, in addition to incubating talents and developing knowledge in the fields of Arabic calligraphy.

Dr. Mohamed Ould Omar also stressed that caring for the Arabic heritage and reviving it with a new shape and a creative formula is the mission of all Arab countries, noting that it is essential to establish a center to preserve this valuable heritage of “the art of handwriting” for coming generations, and referring to the utmost significance of doing this now more than ever due to the accelerating developments in the digital era that is dominated by the use of computers and mobile phones instead of pencils and pens. — SPA