Project to contribute to people in Hattusha region

ÇORUM

A project has been presented to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Institution (UNESCO) to promote Hattusha and the culture and arts of Hittites in the Boğazkale district of the Central Anatolian province of Çorum. The project also foresees the education of women and youth in the district in the field of culture and arts.

Hattusha is the only ancient city on both the UNESCO World Heritage and the World Memory lists. Works have been carried out by the Boğazkale Governor’s Office for the promotion of the region, which is one of the important tourism sites in Turkey, and for the people of the region to get income from tourism.

The project titled “Sustainable Development of the Culture Industry with Women and Youth in Hattusha” has been submitted to the UNESCO’s International Cultural Diversity Fund.

If the project, whose budget exceeds $100,000, is accepted, many studies will be carried out in Boğazkale, home of Hattusha.

Within the scope of the project, a development plan focusing on the culture industry and creative sectors will be prepared in Boğazkale, and 100 people consisting of women and young people will be trained in innovative product presentations with innovative design, theoretical and applied street art, visuality, perspective, 3D, depth, shadow and light. In addition, application workshops will be established in different parts of the district.

With the augmented reality application that will be implemented within the scope of the project, Hittite culture and art will be introduced to the world, especially tourists visiting the district, through various digital platforms.

The project will be evaluated by UNESCO and the result will be announced in February next year.

Economy and trade will revive

Speaking to the state-run Anadolu Agency, Boğazkale Governor Yunus Ataman said that they want the development of tourism, employment and the prosperity of the local people in Boğazkale.

Ataman said that if the project is accepted, $87,650 of the budget, which is totally $101,510, will be covered by UNESCO.

Expressing that if the project is supported, UNESCO’s cultural diversity in Boğazkale will be presented with innovative design methods, Ataman added, “With the increase in the number of domestic and foreign tourists, economic and commercial life will be revived and concrete progress will be achieved through the development of various organizations.”

Ataman said that by supporting women and youth entrepreneurship and contributing to them to establish their own businesses, “We need to develop the ability to design and produce innovative products for this purpose. Thus, women and youth employment will increase, and multi-dimensional developments will take place in our Bogazkale district.”

Hattusha

Hattusha was included in the World Heritage List by UNESCO in 1986 due to the perfect protection of some structures and architectural communities in its ruins. After that, its cuneiform tablet archives representing the oldest known Indo-European language were also inscribed to the Memory of the World list in 2001.
In the region, the Hittite Dam, one of the first known dams in Anatolia, king and prince tombs, the Lion Gate sphinx and the archaeological excavation site, which is normally open to visitors, are experiencing the most silent days in their history.

It has a rich history with its six-kilometer walls surrounding the ancient city, its monumental gates, the 71-meter-long underground passage, the palace in Büyükkale, 31 temples unearthed so far, the Lion Gate, the King Gate and the Yazılıkaya Open Air Temple.