Qatar Museums (QM) is set to launch educational cultural activities at Al Zubarah Unesco World Heritage Site, which will offer participants hands on experience with traditional practices.
Al Zubarah is Qatar’s largest heritage site and is one of the best-preserved examples of an 18th century merchant town in the Gulf region, giving rise to the varied cultural workshops that will be open to the public.
Starting on Friday and running until 3 March 3, the specially designed practical and artistic workshops will take place every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. On Thursday’s and Saturday’s, the event will run from 2pm to 8pm, and from 10am to 8pm on Friday’s.
During the weekend activities, there will be a selection of traditional food and drinks on offer for residents and visiting tours to enjoy. In addition, visitors will get a unique opportunity to interact with craftsmen as they create fishing nets, get beautiful henna art done, and enjoy a range of traditional music.
This initiative comes as part of QM’s continued efforts to increase awareness of Qatar’s history, develop youth appreciation and respect for heritage, and put local communities, young and old, in touch with their past.
For the first time in Qatar, one of the workshops will introduce participants to technically involved and complicated way craftsmen used to make purple dye by using traditional techniques to extract the dye from shellfish that were used in Qatar. Participants will learn how a certain shellfish gland responsible for the purple colour was extracted and put directly on cloth under the heat of the sun to generate the colour of the Qatari flag.
The second workshop will introduce participants to the Neolithic period through pottery practice, while the third workshop will look at Arabic coffee as a symbol of generosity by teaching children to make Arabic coffee and serve it to guests.
The last workshop will teach participants to install a part of a traditional ceiling, doorsill and window sill made of danshal — a type of tree that grows in Zanzibar and which has been traditionally used as timber in constructions. The participants will get familiar with materials used in the conservation of historic buildings and have the opportunity to try their own hands at building and restoring structures.
