Listing the file of skills and traditional craft arts to formatting Water Wheels on the intangible Heritage

The file of skills and traditional craft arts to make water wheels on the intangible Heritage has been listed on Wednesday 15/12/2021 during the meetings of sixteenth session of the international government committee to preserve intangible heritage. This success was the outcome of high-level diplomatic coordination for months with the UNESCO and evaluation bodies of the Intangible Heritage Committee. The Water Wheelisregarded as one of the traditional craft skills and arts discovered by the Ancient people located in the Upper Euphrates who were interested in creating wooden wheel which is locally called Water Wheel. It is a static vertical wheel lies on two solid stones’ bases called (Bait AlNour) on the paths of the Euphrates river which is famous for its low water levels compared to its neighboring populated lands. This leads the inhabitants of these lands to invent an effective method to lift the river’s water towards their area. The Water Wheel is usually built by the relevant communities, including the craft workers, carpenters, potters, builders, farmers, young gardens’ stakeholders, women, and even children.

It is worth mentioning that the concerned communities that participated in the preparation for the nomination of the file had a big role to register the Water Wheels of Heet City in the record of the World Heritage for Agriculture and Irrigation which is concerned with environmental and water issues. These two achievements are regarded as the most important procedure to preserve the aforementioned Water Wheel that Iraq has achieved. This would give real support to the local communities, groups, individuals, and even the government and non-government bodies to continue their efforts in preserving the aforementioned element for the upcoming generations. In addition, it increases the awareness of the importance of intangible cultural heritage in the country.