The General Kashif Al-Getaa Foundation and Mahdia Religious School in Najaf hosted an official delegation that included European scientists in the field of archeology and heritage, the head of the Tourism and archeology of the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, professors and scientists from the University of Kufa and the University of Baghdad, on Sunday, January 21. Professor Nicola Markti, Director of the International Edo Project for the Heritage of Iraq headed the European Archaeological Delegation, as well as archaeologists from European universities, including the University of Bologna and Torrento, also from the University of Cambridge and the University of Pennsylvania. While the delegation of Iraqi universities represented the Rector of University of Kufa Prof. Dr. Abdul Mohsen Al-Dhalmi, Director of Missions and foreign Relations Dr. Haider Al-Hamdani, Professor of European History Encyclopedic Dr. Ali Nashmi from Mustansiriya University, and a number of specialists from inside and outside Iraq.

They were received by the Deputy Secretary General of The General Kashif Al-Getaa Foundation Sheikh Ahmed Kashif Al-Getaa and a number of department managers in the institution. During the tour, the delegation was briefed on the most important heritage manuscripts, which are housed in the library vaults and the foundation Kashif Al-Getaa, which are related to different periods of time and in various subjects and languages, as well as their documentation, archiving and cataloging process, and what is done by the Department of Digital Photography from the processes of photocopying and preservation of manuscripts in digital format and convert the microfilms and microfiches into a digital version.

The delegation was also briefed during the visit of the Mahdia religious school on the method of Hawza study in Najaf, and listened to a detailed explanation about the age of the Marji'ya, which is close to a thousand years, and what emerged during this era of religious clerics have their scientific mark. On the sidelines of the visit, there was a discussion session at the event hall of the Foundation on the role of civil society organizations in the preservation of heritage,

which Sheikh Ahmed Kashif Al-Getaa pointed to the most important stages that the Foundation witnessed to collect and preserve and document the manuscript heritage over the past years, noting that Iraq is a country that includes the legacy which has suffered a great deal of neglect due to the old policies of the former regime, but the concerted efforts have prevented their extinction after the Foundation has been working for more than a quarter of a century to take care of this written heritage, and today we have a treasury of nearly 55 thousand manuscripts and we are proud of this is a work.

The European delegation expressed his admiration for the work it has done to preserve the heritage, which reflects the great interest of the Foundation in this regard.

The visit came within the framework of the first international conference for the promotion and support of monuments and heritage in Iraq, which was organized by the University of Kufa in cooperation with the University of Bologna, Italy and in coordination with the European Union, where the delegation conducted a tour to learn about the heritage of Iraq and Najafi in particular, and the global impact supervised by Edo program.