Al Ain historic sites to be salvaged

Essam al Ghalib

• Last Updated: November 15. 2009 11:45PM UAE / November 15. 2009 7:45PM GMT

While their value in cultural terms is priceless, some important monuments of the past are in desperate need of shoring up. Now, work is under way to keep them intact for the near term until more extensive renovations can be carried out.

AL AIN // Though the buildings are made of easily degradable materials such as mud bricks and palm tree trunks, their place in city history is indelible.

Structures including the Abdullah bin Salem al Darmaki House and Fort, and the Khalfan and Saif al Dhahiri House in Al Ain are thought to be up to 150 years old.

As they have deteriorated over time, support has materialised to help preserve them for the sake of both posterity and safety.

The Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (Adach) is the spearhead of the effort. It is halfway through an initial two-year plan that will help stabilise a number of such heritage sites until they can be totally restored. Abdullah bin Salem has been called a top priority.

“After analysing the structural condition of the house, it was recommended by expert structural engineering consultants to put supports around the main tower and some other walls,” said Sami al Masri, the Adach deputy director general for arts, culture and heritage, in a statement released by Adach. “It was the first time that these kind of large frames were used in a historic site.

“The main structural problems were the cracks on the joints of the tower walls, the debris accumulated at the bottom of the tower and the absence of structural elements connecting the main walls of the tower together.”

The supports were meant to protect the building from collapse and to make sure the area neighbouring the site was safe, the statement said. It did not provide figures for the restoration budget.

The Abdullah bin Salem House at one time served both as a home and a defensive structure to protect the Qattarra oasis and farm from raids. The structure of the seven-room house represented the traditional style of building and incorporated a high tower, courtyard and mosque. The mosque and the surrounding walls of the house are no longer standing.

Restoration work was set to begin within six months and plans were still being drawn up, Adach said. How much of the building will be restored will be decided later, as will its future purpose.

The Khalfan and Saif al Dhahiri House, which was damaged during last season’s rainstorms, has also received some work. The absence of a retaining wall on the edge of the plot upon which the property stands had put the structure in danger.

“A strategy was devised to build a large new retaining wall, which should be from mud bricks also to harmonise with the building’s historic context,” a report by the Adach Emergency Conservation Programme said. “The first task was to excavate around the edge of [the] area to understand the historic location for the previous wall where the new wall would be located.

“The next steps were to clean the area, to build the stone foundation for the wall and to build the actual wall, layer by layer. The last step was the plastering, which protects the wall from weathering.”

The emergency conservation programme continues to identify, prioritise and address urgent issues of conserving the historic buildings in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

It is based on the Adach Strategic Plan’s five-year target to have 30 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s historical buildings and sites conserved and a related two-year target to have 10 per cent of the emirate’s historical buildings and sites conserved.

The geographic scope includes the historic building stock in the Al Ain area and the group of sites on Delma Island as highest priority, with other areas to be addressed in later stages.

The work programme will be divided into two parts. The first will be conducted in the Al Ain area and the second stage in the Delma and Liwa areas. For the city of Al Ain, the sites selected as top priority are to be representative of all five oases in the city, with one site in each oasis.

The conservation programme has been working on other Al Ain sites as well and has plans to restore locations that include the bin Suroor Eastern House, the bin Jabr al Suwaidi house and the bin Bodowwah al Dharmaki house.


ealghalib@thenational.ae