ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A cultural center is renovating crumbling old houses in Erbil’s 200-year-old Arab Quarter to preserve the history, turning them into a Kurdish manuscript museum and an art gallery.
The Arab Quarter is located near the citadel, one of the oldest continuously inhabited areas and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The neighborhood has been largely abandoned for many years.
The Kurdistan Center for Culture and Art is finishing up renovations of two houses in the historic neighborhood. Eighty percent of the work is complete, preserving the original character of the houses, and they will be officially opened by the end of this year.
"The old design will be preserved," said Ranjdar Jawhar, a construction designer. "We remove the damaged bricks, fix them and then put them back in."
The first of the two sites will house around 700 manuscripts.
"This house will become the most professional manuscript house across the Kurdistan Region," Mohammed Fatih, managing director of the centre, told Rudaw. "We have brought devices for the physical archiving of the manuscripts from Spain, in coordination with a Jordanian company. We have even taken into account the temperature of the rooms."
Erbil Governor Omed Xoshnaw commended the renovation as "a high-quality job."
The Kurdistan Center for Culture and Art has also received two more old houses in the Arab Quarter from the government to renovate them, turning one into a cinema and the other into a human resources development center.
Local residents want to prevent the complete destruction of the quarter, where they grew up and have many childhood memories. They want the quarter to be preserved as a historical site.
Fifty-year-old Saed Amir Saed Ghanim is one of the handful people who still lives in the neighborhood that is a symbol of culture and co-existence in the Kurdish capital.
"The rooftops were made of mud and wood. The walls were made of mud, not gypsum plaster. People used to cover the rooftop of their houses with tarps to prevent roof leaks. If I am given the most modern villas and palaces, I still would want to live here, in the Arab Quarter," Ghanim said.
Sherzad Omer is the son of Omer Tabakh, the owner of the house that is being turned into an art gallery. He is happy that the house will be renovated, preserving its old design and structure.
"My father loved this house a lot. It feels great that it is being renovated, preserving its old design. We are proud. We are happy for its renovation," Omer said, describing the neighborhood as the cradle of his childhood.
Payam Sarbast contributed to this article