Doha: Al Zubarah, the State of Qatar’s largest heritage site, remains a witness to the history and heritage of the Qatari people. It is an authentic landmark and a unique model for the social and economic transformation in the country.
There, the pearl trade flourished, making the place a cultural hub that embraced many literary figures who expressed the authentic Qatari sentiment and human interaction between the sea and the desert.
Due to the importance of this heritage site and its place in the conscience of the Qatari people, the efforts to include it in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list were successful on June 22, 2013.
UNESCO’s decision was supported by the universal value of Al Zubarah site and its connection to human development and the growth of society in Qatari history.
At the height of its prosperity, the heritage site was a trade bridge between the Indian Ocean, Arabian Peninsula and Western Asia. The coastal and walled city of Al Zubarah flourished in the northwest of the State of Qatar as an important commercial center between the 18th and 19th centuries. Al Zubarah includes an amazing city wall, residential palaces, homes, markets, industrial areas, and mosques.
The first to classify Al Zubarah as a heritage site was a team of Danish archaeologists in the fifties. AfterwardS, a team of Qatari and Danish archaeologists carried out excavations at the site.
After conducting studies and research on the site, a large group of archaeological items dating back to the 18th and 19th Centuries were found. Those items are displayed in the galleries of Al Zubarah City Museum.
Al Zubarah is distinguished because it presents prominent evidence of the active trade and pearl diving that preserved the main coast of the region from the early Islamic period until the early 20th century. It is also an embodiment of a series of cultural and architectural institutions in the region.
This heritage site remains a witness to human interaction between the sea and desert environment in northern Qatar and the region. The weights used by pearl divers, ceramics, sailboats, fisheries, wells, and agricultural activity appear at the site. The site is also a witness to how the city of Al Zubarah was a major center driven by trade, which made it a historical site that indicates that the people of the town engaged in various business activities since ancient times.
The city of Al Zubarah is the largest heritage site in the State of Qatar and the Arabian Gulf between the 18th and 19th centuries. The site is distinguished by its wall, residential buildings, and markets. It includes three major features, the largest of which are the archaeological remains of the town, dating back to the 1760s, the settlement of Qal’at Murair, which goes back to the Abbasid period due to the way fortifications were built, and Al Zubarah Fort built in 1938.
The archaeological and cultural site of Al Zubarah represents a unique model of social and economic transformation because it was a thriving port for the pearl trade and a cultural hub through the literary figures that emerged in the city.
FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 visitors will be able to visit the showroom at Al Zubarah heritage site to discover more about the Fort's history, its surrounding environment, and ongoing projects for its maintenance and restoration.
Al Zubarah Fort was built by Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani in 1938 to guard and protect the northwest coast of Qatar.
Al Zubarah Fort is currently managed by Qatar Museums. It has been renovated and converted into a museum to display various artworks, especially for contemporary topical archaeological findings.
Al Zubarah Fort is located in the ancient city of Al Zubarah on the northwest coast of the Qatar Peninsula in the Al Shamal Municipality, about 105km from Doha, the capital of the State of Qatar. With an area of 60 hectares, Al Zubarah is the largest heritage site in the Arabian Peninsula.
Source: QNA
