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Khalifa sets up Culture and Heritage Authority
ABU DHABI – The President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has - in his capacity as Ruler of Abu Dhabi - issued a law to establish the Abu Dhabi Culture and Heritage Authority.
- PUBLISHED: Sat 15 Oct 2005, 11:00 AM UPDATED: Thu 2 Apr 2015, 8:50 PM
- By:
- WAM
The new authority will be financially and administratively autonomous and will have its headquarters in the city of Abu Dhabi, although its board of directors shall have the power to establish branches and offices anywhere in the UAE.
According to the terms of the law, the authority will oversee intellectual and artistic activities in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and will also be responsible for maintaining, protecting, managing and promoting the cultural heritage of the emirate through the following means:
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· The evolving of cultural policies, plans and programmes and ensuring that such policies are implemented.
· Undertaking projects designed to develop, promote and protect the cultural heritage of the emirate and to make appropriate recommendations to the relevant authorities.
· Organising and developing activities dealing with the heritage of the country as well as organising conferences, cultural shows, plastic arts exhibitions and other activities related to the activities of the national library.
· Organising study programmes and seminars and other intellectual, scientific and professional meetings in addition to the publication of research and studies in the field of culture and heritage.
· Conserving historical, archaeological and heritage sites and buildings and preparing an inventory of cultural property and artefacts – carrying out of archaeological excavations, conserving archaeological artefacts and relics and issuing licences for excavations.
· Supervising the work and activities of archaeological excavation teams and establishing a department to manage, develop and supervise museums and other buildings where cultural artefacts are housed.
· Recommending laws and regulations to protect, promote and preserve cultural heritage.
· Providing support for training and educational activities in the authority's field of specialisation.
· Developing human and cultural resources in the fields of documentation, management, archiving and preservation of cultural heritage.
· Outlining general plans for the activities of museums, in addition to planning for exhibitions on heritage, ensuring that such plans are carried out in association with the authorities and institutions concerned.
· Checking for violations of and damage to the cultural heritage and antiquities of the emirate and taking the necessary legal action in association with the relevant authorities.
· Providing support and assistance to bodies working in the field of the preservation, management and promotion of cultural heritage -exercising control over heritage and cultural property, whether public or private.
· Managing the national library in such a way as to enrich and promote intellectual, artistic and scientific activities in Abu Dhabi through the provision of references, journals and periodicals in Arabic and other languages in various fields of knowledge.
· Recording national history through the collection of documents, the registering of the heritage of the emirate and through the publication of works in this field.
The law states that the authority will be governed by a board of directors, consisting of a chairman, a deputy chairman and seven or more other members, whose powers will be specified in a decision to be taken by the Abu Dhabi executive council. Members shall serve a five year term, which can be renewed. The board will be the body responsible for determining the general policies and plans of the authority.
The authority shall obtain its financial resources from annual allocations made by government in addition to fees for any services provided by the authority. The authority's funds shall be considered public monies.The law also states that employees of the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi, established under the terms of Decree No. 7 for 1981, and the employees of the Department of Antiquities and Tourism in Al Ain, which is affiliated to the Diwan of the Ruler's Representative in the Eastern Region, shall be transferred to the new authority.