Role of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Revival of Najaf Tangible Heritage

The historical center of Najaf can be considered one of the few cities which belongs to the medieval ages. Millions of pilgrims visited the Holy Shrine of Imam Ali each year and in certain days about three million of people are gathered in the historic part for worship. Such case, raised a need for two things: extension of the Holy Shrine and providing services for pilgrims. In other side, the historical center of Najaf and Imam Ali Shrine have highly respected value from the cultural heritage point of view, and such value is threatened by the mentioned increased needs. In the present paper, a holistic view was given to both types of cultural heritage: tangible and intangible to increase the awareness of various communities related to Najaf. Four communities were defined: pilgrims, religious students, workers, and residents. An approach was proposed to explore the spirit of Najaf historic center titled: Najaf a city of living heritage . The approach was based on inventorying the intangible cultural heritage for each community to find the elements related to the tangible heritage of the historic center of the city. Finally, the paper suggested that community museum should be established to implement the proposal.

Role of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Revival of Najaf Tangible Heritage Keywords:

Tangible Cultural Heritage , Intangible Cultural Heritage , spirit of place , Najaf Historic Center