Development projects for ancestral cultural heritage in M’zab

Ancestral cultural, architectural and historical sites and monuments in the M’zab Valley, province of Ghardaia (600-km south of Algiers)  will benefit of a listing operation with the necessary lighting and road signs, the head of the province’s Culture Department said.    The operation, to which is granted more than DZD 30 million, aims to identify and list the rich cultural, architectural and historical heritage in the M’zab valley, designated as UNESCO world heritage since 1982, underlined Brahim Baba-Addoun. The valley was also designated by the authorities as “protected,” in conformity with the executive decree 05/209 of 6 June 2005, recalled the head of the Culture Department. A protection and development plan for the area is in progress, in line with the law 04/98 of 15/07/1998 on heritage, to better preserve the region’s cultural resources, Baba-Addoun added. Important touristic site of original traditional architecture, the M’zab valley is made up of five ksours (fortress villages), namely El-Atteuf, Bounoura, Beni-Iseguen, Melika and Ghardaia, founded in the 10th century.