The Pearling Path in Detail - Pearling path

Pearling Path（https://pearlingpath.bh/en/）

The Pearling Path in Detail

Map

Pearling fleet

Al-Ghūṣ House, 2016, Camille Zakharia

Al Alawi House, 2016, Camille Zakharia

Badr Ghulum House, 2016, Camille Zakharia

Al Alawi House, 2016, Camille Zakharia

Siyadi Majlis, 2016 Camille Zakharia

Farewell before the pearling trip

Bu Maher Visitors Centre, 2014, Loredana Mantello

Model view on the Siyadi Mosque and Majlis showing the new pavilion, 2016, Studio Anne Holtrop

Badr Ghulum and Turabi Houses, 2016, Camille Zakharia

Pearling, Testimony of an Island EconomyThe MissionWorld Heritage Nomination

As of 2012, “Pearling, Testimony of an Island Economy” has become the second World Heritage Site of the Kingdom of Bahrain, testifying to its millennia-old pearl-collecting tradition and the globally significant single-product island economy and social system it produced.

“Pearling, Testimony of an Island Economy” is a serial nomination consisting of 20 natural and architectural components: three vast oyster beds located in the northern territorial waters of Bahrain; one seashore site at the southern tip of Bahrain’s Muharraq Island; the ruins of a coastal fortress; and fifteen historic architectural structures forming nine clusters, embedded in the urban fabric of Muharraq city. Collectively, the listed sites reflect the final expression and last remaining example of a cultural tradition that dominated the Arabian Gulf from prehistory to the early 20th century.

Although Muharraq’s pearling economy subsided in the 1930s, the grand narrative it produced remains the most significant source of Bahraini cultural identity. More than a mere “story,” this grand narrative is a comprehensive, shared memory and a thorough explanation of historical experience and traditional knowledge that provides meaning to contemporary identity throughout the Arabian Gulf.

The economic, social, and cultural practices of the Pearling Era, values that are acknowledged internationally as a World Heritage, are to be cherished and nurtured as a significant heritage of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The essential endeavour is to safeguard the site, ensuring the inheritance of this vast heritage from Bahrain’s former pearling economy for future generations. As the responsible body for safeguarding and managing this outstanding site, the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities carries out its tasks with the overall vision of activating the role of culture in social and economic development. Therefore, the goals are set as conserving the property’s components in line with internationally established standards, enabling public access to all the property’s components, providing information on the economic, social, and cultural context of the area, and developing a community-based approach to dealing with urban development and the fabric of ancient cities.

This World Heritage Site consists not only of natural and urban components but also of intangible values that have been shared over millennia. The Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities’ objectives also include safeguarding the shared memory of the Pearling Era by documenting its stories and fostering ongoing practices, such as pearling songs, pearl diving, and many other traditions that are still cherished today by the people of Bahrain.

The UNESCO World Heritage Convention was adopted in 1972 and has since been ratified by 195 State Parties. The Kingdom of Bahrain signed the Convention in 1991. Bahrain inscribed its first World Heritage Site, “Qal’at al-Bahrain – Ancient Harbour and Capital of Dilmun,” in 2005.

Most countries are very eager to have their sites recognized on the World Heritage List as it increases recognition, provides heritage branding for tourism promotion, brings more visitors, and, along with all the above, conveys economic benefits.

“Pearling, Testimony of an Island Economy” was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in June 2012, granting global recognition to the significance of the site. The site was inscribed based on criterion (iii), which is justified as follows: “The ensemble of urban properties, fort, seashore, and oyster beds is an exceptional testimony to the final flourishing of the cultural tradition of pearling, which dominated the Arabian Gulf between the 2nd and early 20th centuries. Although the pearling industry has died, these sites carry the memory of its prosperity and the building traditions that it fostered.”

Oyster Beds

For centuries, the oyster beds located off the northern shores of Bahrain were described in superlative terms for the quality of their pearls, the density of their oysters, and the high ratio of pearl discoveries made during the pearling seasons. In his Natural History, Pliny the Elder (23/24–79 AD) named the island (then Tylos) as “extremely famous for its numerous pearls.”

The reputation of Bahrain’s oyster beds as the richest in the Arabian Gulf meant that during the season, pearling dhows from Qatar, Kuwait, and the southern Persian coast sailed to join pearling fleets from Muharraq and the main island of Bahrain in their quest for the prized natural treasures. They were able to do so because the waters of the Arabian Gulf were considered common property of all its coastal dwellers.

The Bahraini oyster beds included in the World Heritage Site are Hayr Shtayyah, Hayr Bu ‘Amamah, and Hayr Bu-I-Thamah. Occupying nearly 35,000 hectares, the beds are also home to diverse marine species such as corals, anemones, sea stars, and fish. They have been selected to represent the distinctive qualities of the Bahraini oyster beds and their popularity as a pearl diving location among the Arabian Gulf’s pearling fleets.

The Seashore

The seashore had key cultural and strategic functions in the pearling economy. It was the point of departure for the pearling fleet during the annual diving season (Al Ghus Al Kabir) and its return some four months later. These occasions were the most important in Bahrain’s pearling calendar, marked not only by farewells and reunions (or, alternately, by scenes of tragedy when a father or son did not return) among loved ones but also by large festivals held on the seashore.

The seashore was also pivotal to the island society’s relations with the wider world. It was here that visitors arrived and departed outside the pearling season, where international traders unloaded goods shipped from India or other parts of the Arabian Gulf, and where diplomatic visitors were officially received.

A third role was the seashore’s strategic defensive function: it protected the Muharraq settlement largely due to its inaccessibility. Most of Muharraq’s seashore was extremely shallow because of offshore coral reefs, most of which have now been converted into land through successive land reclamation programs. Muharraq’s harbour was an open area of deeper water at the very southern tip of the island. From there, passengers and goods would be transferred into rowboats and landed at the island’s southernmost shore of Bu Mahir.

Qal‘at Bū Māhir

The earliest depiction of Qal’at Bu Mahir is shown on a Portuguese map of 1635. Originally a solid, four-towered fort with massive defensive walls, Qal’at Bu Mahir dominated the Bu Mahir Seashore and played an essential role in the pearling economy. It both defended the nearby Muharraq settlement and protected the basin between Muharraq and the main island of Bahrain. The latter role was vital for the protection of the pearling fleet against pirates and other Arabian Gulf aggressors at the beginning and the end of each diving season. In addition, Qal’at Bu Mahir protected Muharraq town’s principal water supply, a fresh water source located in the sea.

Qal’at Bu Mahir’s defensive role came to an end in 1868, when British Naval forces destroyed large parts of the fort and assumed some of the protection of Bahrain. From this time, the structure took on a new importance for the pearling society, in particular for the festivals marking the departure and arrival of the pearling fleet, offering spectators one of the highest vantage points on the island’s southern tip for viewing the dhows as they set off and returned.

The many historic events that took place at the fort or in its immediate vicinity mean that Qal’at Bu Mahir is tied closely to Bahrain’s national heritage. Today, only the southern tower and its attached defensive wing remain. The rest of fort is visible in the excavated archaeological remains of the north-western and south-eastern towers and the foundations of the northern wall.

Qal‘at Bū Māhir, 2016, Camille Zakharia

Block 216

Al-Ghūṣ House

Al Ghus House – the pearl diver house – is thought to have been built by a boat captain (Nukhidhah), a captain’s second-in-command, or perhaps a master boatbuilder in the first decade of the 20th century and is said to have been inhabited and used by related divers.

Al Ghus house was originally located at the seashore, overlooking the sea passage that provided crucial access to the formerly tidal island of Bu Mahir (Halat Bu Mahir), Qal’at Bu Mahir and the outer harbour. It is a simple single-storey structure, initially of three enclosed rooms and an open colonnade (Liwan) arranged around a central courtyard.

In the contemporary urban fabric, Al Ghus House is a reminder of an important memory, where official visitors would have passed by on their way from the seashore to the Muharraq market or to the ruler’s palace during the peak years of pearling. Older Muharraq residents recall that pearling related goods were sometimes stored inside the front section of the house until the tide had receded sufficiently to allow access to Halat Bu Mahir.

Although most divers (Ghasah) and their even lower paid haulers (Siyub) lived in huts constructed of palm materials (Barasti), Al Ghus House is still representative of their housing since barasti shared a very similar ground plan, with a few rooms occupying, in most cases, two sides of a shared but enclosed courtyard. The building is a prototype of a modest – lower to middle income – family home constructed of locally collected coral stones.

Al-Ghūṣ House, 2016, Camille Zakharia

972, Road 1615, Block 216

Badr Ghulum and Turabi Houses

Badr Ghulum Suleiman was a traditional folk medicine therapist and barber who set up his business in Muharraq in 1912. In the absence of modern medical services in Muharraq, Badr Ghulum’s residence, progressively gained the character of a small health clinic, and today it contains the city’s earliest remaining structures built for the purpose of medical provision.

Amongst the many members of the pearling community, rich and poor, who sought treatment at Badr Ghulum House were pearl divers seeking relief from the pain and suffering they endured from long-term diving afflictions such as lung, eye and skin diseases. The clinic was one of the rare locations where everybody was welcomed equally and treated with dedication and respect.

The history of the property, still owned by the Ghulum family, illustrates the expansion of the family activity in several construction phases up to the most recent, which saw the treatment room built in coral stone. This room, still preserved today, contained the apothecary, where herbal and mineral pastes and syrups used in treatments were prepared.

The house with its flourishing courtyard garden is embedded in a traditional urban pattern of meandering narrow pedestrian lanes framed by single – and double – storeyed residences. Three rooms at the western side, a colonnade (Liwan) towards the courtyard and the treatment room survive from Badr Ghulum House’s original plan.

Badr Ghulum and Turabi Houses, 2016, Camille Zakharia

Badr Ghulum House, 2016, Camille Zakharia

Badr Ghulum and Turabi Houses, 2016, Camille Zakharia

Badr Ghulum House: 972, Road 1615, Block 216 | Turabi House: 1262, Lane 1622, Block 216

Al-Jalahma House

Al Jalahma family was involved in a wide range of key professions in the pearling economy, from the diver and hauler to pearl trader (Tajir) and grand pearl merchant (Tawwash). Al Jalahma House, built on the northern tip of Muharraq city at the gateway to Al Halah Island before the age of land reclamations, was the family’s home. It offers a prototype of a large, complex residence in which women, as a result of multiple marriages, made up the majority of household members. Consequently, the house provides a unique opportunity to explore the female perspective on the pearling economy.

Protecting the privacy of the female members of a household is a well-established tenet of Islamic architecture and in this extraordinary building. We find it guaranteed through a complicated arrangement of corridors, staircases, balconies and courtyards. Of particular interest, is that the separated gender areas of Al Jalahma House are designed to be completely flexible: reception areas for men, for example, would revert to female domains once male visitors left. In all the other large family residences among the nominated properties, the guest reception room (Majlis) is constructed as a separate building, or at least has a separate entrance. In Al Jalahma House, however, the most representative reception room (Hafiz) is located at the centre of the family home. Located on the residence’s airy, elevated first floor, the hafiz was the women’s favourite place during the summer months when the pearl diving season saw Muharraq transformed into a female city.

Al-Jalahma House, 2016, Camille Zakharia

1321, 1319, Road 1624, Block 216 / 1251, 1250, Lane 1622, Block 216

Al Alawi House

Al Alawi House is an example of residential architecture built with wealth derived from the supply trade that underpinned the pearling industry. It has Muharraq’s only remaining functioning wind tower apart from the palace of the former ruler, Shaikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa.

Mahmoud Muhammad Al Alawi, the builder of the house, was a trader like his father and supplied goods to the pearling economy from his shop. This was close by in Muharraq’s main market, where he sold tobacco, rope, anchors and sail cloth for the dhows, fish oil, ground gypsum and caulking for their construction, pearl diving equipment such as nose clips, and collecting baskets and leather tips for fingers. He also operated freshwater boats which delivered drinking water to the pearling dhows. Merchants such as Al Alawis, typically lived along the shore to be able to supply the pearling boats with essential goods during the season. And indeed, when Mahmoud Muhammed Al Alawi began construction of the residence early in the 1930s, the last decade of the pearling economy, it was on a site located on reclaimed land very close to the bay that once divided the islands of Muharraq and Al Halah.