Two specialists stress the importance of raising awareness of the importance of historic buildings

Architectural heritage in the UAE .. a treasure for generations

The historical Shindagha in Dubai is one of the most prominent evidence of the urban heritage in the Emirates.

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Two engineers specializing in urban heritage confirmed that the heritage sites in the UAE are a treasure for future generations, stressing the need to preserve them and raise the level of community awareness about historical buildings in particular.

This came during a session entitled "Problems and Challenges Facing Urban Heritage", within the activities of the 18th session of Sharjah Heritage Days, which is organized in Heritage Square in the Heart of Sharjah until next April 10, in which the Director of the Urban Heritage and Antiquities Department in Dubai Municipality, Eng. Ahmed Mahmoud Mohammed, and the President of the Urban Heritage Society in the country, Engineer Rashad Bukhash, and its departments, the architectural expert of the Sharjah Heritage Institute, Hunaydah Al-Khalidi.

Ahmed Mahmoud Mohamed explained the importance of preserving heritage and historical places and exploiting them in an optimal way, adding that "heritage represents the memory of the person who lived in the place, hence the importance of preserving it, as it represents the thread that connects us to the past, to the national identity, and to the place as well."

He said: “There are efforts made to protect these sites, as some old areas in Dubai, such as Al-Fahidi and Al-Shindagha neighborhood, were frozen for a period of time, followed by a comprehensive restoration process for the area. This undoubtedly contributed to protecting these buildings.

For his part, Rashad Bukhash touched on the importance of raising awareness of preserving urban heritage and historical places, reviewing a number of experiences that the old areas in the Emirates went through, especially the Shindagha area in Dubai, which was demolished before it was rebuilt again, according to the designs that were It previously.

He said, “The level of community awareness about preserving historical buildings has witnessed a rise in Emirati society in recent years, as it came from the belief in the importance of this historical legacy, which reveals the extent of the roots of our relationship with history, and the conditions that this region has gone through, which we can read from the nature of designs. And the decorations that characterized the old homes and regions », and he praised the decision-makers and their convictions of the importance of these buildings and the need to preserve them, which contributed greatly to raising the level of community awareness.

Bukhash touched on the role that urban heritage plays in the process of reading history, considering that “urban heritage is an essential part of the heritage and civilization of any country, and its importance lies in being a key to reading history, discovering and studying the details of the state’s history and the events that have been entrusted with it, and this is done through the nature of Inscriptions and decorations, the philosophy and method of construction that differ from one period to another, and from one civilization to another, as this enables us to determine the chronological age of this place or site », pointing out that the nature of ancient buildings in the Emirates and their designs contributed to knowing and discovering the secrets of the place, along with nature and conditions Ecology that people lived at that time.

Ahmed Mahmoud:

• «Heritage represents the memory of the person who lived in the place, hence the importance of preserving it».

Rashad Bukhash:

• «The importance of urban heritage lies in its being a key to reading history, discovering and studying the details of the past.

The value of the place

The Director of the Urban Heritage and Antiquities Department in Dubai Municipality, Eng. Ahmed Mahmoud Mohamed, said: “Historic buildings have become an important source of tourism, and therefore it is very important before starting to restore any historical building, to prepare a study that shows the nature of the uses that the place will witness and determine its needs, and how to employ it in the future, so that It goes beyond its mere value as an archaeological and historical building to being a source of income, and this process is one of the problems facing the urban heritage, especially during the restoration process.

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