{
  "id": 16212737,
  "title": "Erbil’s historic houses find new life as centre for Kurdish art and heritage",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/23/erbils-historic-houses-find-new-life-as-centre-for-kurdish-art-and-16212737",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-10-23T18:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The National Business",
    "slug": "the-national-business",
    "url": "https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2026/10/23/erbils-historic-houses-find-new-life-as-centre-for-kurdish-art-and-heritage/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In Erbil's historic old quarter, Kurdish culture and history are safeguarded through family manuscripts, art, and generations of memories. Four historic houses near the ancient citadel are being transformed into a center for arts and cultural preservation by the Kurdistan Centre for Arts and Culture (KCAC). These homes, most dating back to before Iraq's monarchy, will serve various purposes, including an archive for manuscripts, a permanent exhibition space for Kurdish artists, and workshops for artists and heritage professionals.\n\nSpede Mizuri, KCAC's director of public impact, explains that one house will house a state-of-the-art fireproof, waterproof, and bulletproof archive. The archive will collaborate with Salahaddin University to catalog its manuscript collection, which has remained largely inaccessible since being transferred to the university in the 1960s. Another house will host a solo exhibition by a Kurdish artist living in exile, while the remaining two houses will provide training and workshops in the arts and cultural sectors.\n\nThe restoration project builds upon KCAC's previous work in preserving vulnerable collections across Iraqi Kurdistan, such as their mobile archiving project launched in 2024. This initiative digitized materials using scanners in a Toyota van, digitizing political documents, religious manuscripts, personal journals, and modern printed works, among other items. Some of these materials were hidden underground during conflicts to protect them.\n\nKurdish communities, spread across Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and Syria, have a distinct cultural identity that has evolved under various political systems and borders. Mizuri highlights the importance of documenting and studying Kurdish history and contributions to the region, which are often overlooked. In Sulaymaniyah, KCAC is partnering with the British Library and the University of Exeter to make the library of the Ministry of Religious Endowment, housing some of the oldest manuscripts in Kurdistan, accessible to the international research community.\n\nBeyond preserving historical materials, KCAC seeks to showcase Kurdish culture and artists on a broader stage. They are working on a project to be announced next week, aiming to have the library of the Ministry of Religious Endowment recognized within the British Library's cataloguing system. The center has already built relationships with cultural institutions in Iraq and across the Middle East, participating in events like Art Basel Qatar and the Sharjah Art Foundation's art book fair.",
  "summary": "In Erbil’s old quarter, Kurdish history is held in family manuscripts, works of art and memories passed down through generations. Now, four historic houses near the city’s ancient citadel are being brought back to life to give those stories a place to endure. The Kurdistan Centre for Arts and Culture (KCAC) is working on turning the homes into spaces for safeguarding manuscripts, supporting…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}