Some of the volunteers presenting a song at the gala dinner.
Qatar Museums (QM) honoured more than 50 young volunteers from Qatar and around the world at a gala dinner last night, following the completion of 20-day 'Together for Heritage' project to conserve the historical Al Zubarah heritage site.
The Al Zubarah heritage site is Qatar’s largest and was recently declared a Unesco World Heritage Site.
Held at the Museum of Islamic Art courtyard, the event was attended by senior QM officials and Unesco representatives. QM Chief Archaeology Officer Al Al Kubaisi thanked the volunteers for their time, hard work, passion and dedication to preserve the Al Zubarah site which is of utmost importance to the country.
"It is wonderful to see that the volunteers embraced this unique opportunity and learned not only technical skills of conservation and archaeology in Qatar, but also learnt from each other and formed strong bonds of friendship in this living cultural exchange programme," said Al Kubaisi.
The project was part of Unesco’s World Heritage Volunteers (WHV) ‘Together for Heritage’ campaign, an initiative within the framework of the Unesco World Heritage Education (WHE) Programme, aimed at increasing awareness and reinforcing the importance of conserving and protecting world heritage. The initiative helps to develop youth appreciation and respect for heritage and cultural diversity, creating a positive attitude towards heritage preservation.
“Qatar is a country with a proud and rich heritage stretching back over thousands of years, and preserving this history for our future generations is vital. Every volunteer should be extremely proud to have played a significant part in protecting and preserving this spectacular World Heritage Site," added Al Kubaisi.
The projects saw young volunteers from several countries as well as 12 volunteers from Qatar, take part in awareness raising and hands on activities at Al Zubarah Fort and other parts of the site, all focused on preventive conservation and preservation techniques. These included working with QM’s Architectural Conservation Team, where volunteers were taught the basics of masonry conservation, plaster consolidation and to write documentation and conservation reports about the site, among others.
They immersed themselves in learning about the day-to-day life in a World Heritage property and took part in workshops. The Al Zubarah Volunteers Program is sponsored by Ali bin Ali Group, Seashore Group and Ooredoo.
