AL AIN // The brick road through some of Al Ain's oldest date farms twists and turns sharply and the huge palm leaves hanging over the mud brick walls on either side make it difficult to see what lies ahead. But it is not what is ahead that matters so much, it is the road itself. While the chest-high walls have been repaired and are no longer made of the original material, the road they line and the date farms they enclose provide a glimpse into the country's history. On this private tour, this road is one of several sites that Aqil Ahmed Aqil, an architect with the conservation department of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (Adach), wants to discuss.
"People are starting to see that these sites have value, but most still don't know anything about the UAE's historic sites," he said. "People will learn more with time. But the thing is, we don't want too many visitors here anyway." Al Ain played an important part in the history of the Emirates. A natural oasis, the water and shade made it a key destination for the early inhabitants of Abu Dhabi, who travelled for days on camels to reach it. It became an attractive location for permanent settlement; some of the buildings erected centuries ago remain, despite the fragile mud brick with which they were largely constructed.
The need to repair so many of Abu Dhabi's oldest structures has helped spur the development of a programme to enforce the conservation and protection of heritage and historic sites. The programme, a joint effort between Abu Dhabi Municipality, Adach and the Urban Planning Council, should be in place by the end of 2008. It will establish criteria for designating historic, heritage and archaeological sites, along with urban planning restrictions including mandatory buffer zones, legal protection for sites and an emirate-wide mandate for their conservation. Compliance with all aspects of the programme will be mandatory by law once it is established.
Dr Sami el Masri, the director of strategic planning at Adach, said another aspect of the programme would be to determine whether to conserve the buildings actively or passively. Access to some sites is restricted for fear that too many visitors would damage their fragile structural integrity. Others will be refurbished and renovated for public use, a process called adaptive reuse. Qasr Al Hosn Fort next to the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi is one such example. The plan is to revive the building and use it as "a memorial for the city and the ruling family", said Dr Masri.
Al Ain has put in a bid for designation as a Unesco World Heritage Site. While its application has yet to be approved, Mr Aqil explained that within the city limits were some of the most significant cultural sites for all the Emirates. "If Al Ain is successful in its bid to become a World Heritage Site, we can achieve greater awareness about our history," he said. After leaving the heritage date farms, Mr Aqil drove the short distance to Al Jahili Fort, the biggest of Adach's current conservation projects.
Built in 1316, Al Jahili is the largest fort in Abu Dhabi emirate. Sheikh Zayed the First used the complex as a summer home and military compound at the end of the 19th century. Abandoned in the 1920s, the fort was not used again until the 1940s, when the British quartered troops in it. It consists of a square courtyard, a tower and two buildings, all built with mud brick. Occasional rain has caused the brick to crumble and rebuilding the foundation and corners is a big part of the conservation project. "Mud brick is very challenging," said Mr Aqil. "It's not like stone; that's easy, it can survive for 100 years. Mud brick is fragile, it becomes powdery and is easy to destroy."
Once the work is completed - the goal is by September - the fort will house a museum dedicated to Abu Dhabi's early explorers, an information kiosk and a temporary exhibition centre. According to Dr Masri, "historic buildings need to be used so people can appreciate them". While it was important for the public to be aware of the significance of heritage sites, the Adach historic building manager, Peter Sheehan, said one of the challenges to maintaining them was the fact that they are often located in "no man's land".
"One of the main threats is informal garbage disposal and littering, which tends to occur in isolated areas where no activity occurs." Vandalism and graffiti are also problems at many sites. Driving past historic brick houses and a stone-enclosed courtyard, Mr Aqil gestured at black spray paint on a wall. "This graffiti is bad," he said. "This isn't artistic, it's awful. And we have to paint over it when we go to work on the building."
The next stop is the Bin Rayeh Tower, a large circular structure the colour of sand that is about two storeys tall. Mr Aqil said the tower was bought several years ago by a man who poured money into fixing up the building and wanted to turn it into a shisha cafe. "People started putting lots of pressure on the municipality to stop this man from turning the site into a shisha cafe," said Mr Aqil. "They felt it had more value than that, the building was too unique. The people felt it didn't deal with the building well. And ultimately, the man was kicked out but well compensated by the municipality."
Such examples give Mr Aqil hope. "Sometimes my friends will talk about what I do and they'll say, 'There's no heritage here'. People's minds are closed, not many people know about the heritage here. It's changing, though. The country has developed so quickly, and eventually it will have to slow down. Maybe then they will begin to value our heritage more." @Email:jhume@thenational.ae
