UAE’s Dynamic and Modern Cultural Foundation Just Keeps on Growing

By Richard H. Curtiss

The growth of the Cultural Foundation of the United Arab Emirates mirrors the phenomenal growth of the city in which it is situated, Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, which is one of the modern miracles of the Middle East. From the time fresh water was discovered in 1760 on this previously uninhabited island in the Arabian Gulf, Abu Dhabi slowly evolved first into a station for sea-borne merchants and fishermen and then into the political base for the Al Nahyan rulers of Abu Dhabi emirate.

Other than its picturesque fort, built in 1793 both as a residence and administrative headquarters for the ruler, there was little to distinguish Abu Dhabi from other ports along the Gulf. This was particularly true since some rulers of Abu Dhabi divided their time between their coastal base and the inland oases of the area. One of those oases, at the base of the Jebal Hafit mountain, is the storied Buraimi Oasis, which presently is divided between the Omani town of Al Buraimi and Al Ain (The Spring), second largest city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

After abundant oil was discovered in Abu Dhabi in the 1950s, the island city began the expansion that, starting in the 1970s, became an explosion of construction. Because Abu Dhabi’s ruler since 1966, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who also has served since December 1971 as president of the United Arab Emirates, has a passion for greenery, trees and shrubs were planted along every major road in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and other settled areas of the Emirate. The trees also extend in continuous belts flanking the highways connecting Abu Dhabi’s settled areas, in extensive agricultural areas reclaimed from the desert, and in parks along what has become a spectacular, wooded “corniche” built along Abu Dhabi’s highrise-lined seafront.

Early on, Sheikh Zayed became concerned that the historic landmarks of his capital could easily become lost among the modern buildings spreading from the sea-front across much of the island and even onto additional land being reclaimed from the sea. However, from the beginning of the construction boom, the city’s many old mosques were protected from the demolition that made way for high-rise office and apartment buildings. Land around the mosques also was left open, allowing them to modernize to keep pace with the beautification of the city, and to expand to keep up with the booming population growth.

The same concern for historic preservation also was applied to the old fort, whose walls of pebbles and coral rock had been expanded considerably from their original 1793 outlines, and which had continued to serve as the seat of government until 1966. Again, with a remarkable prescience exhibited as the construction frenzy continued, the area around the fort was kept clear, so that the highrises to come would not dwarf what had for more than 150 years been the major building on the island.

The entire complex is testimony to a strong sense of history by Abu Dhabi’s ruler, Sheikh Zayed.

In the parts of the fort vacated when Sheikh Zayed moved his administrative offices to the Al Manhal Palace, a Center for Documentation and Research was founded in 1968. In 1982, after restoration of all wings of the old fort was completed, the Center for Documentation and Research occupied all of the building.

Two years later, the Center was attached to Abu Dhabi’s Cultural Foundation, which since then has moved into a spectacular modern building, constructed in part of the large open area surrounding the Old Fort. In keeping with the low-lying architecture of the Old Fort and Abu Dhabi’s nearby Grand Mosque, the Foundation’s Cultural Center, though almost the equivalent of a city block in size, is housed in a four-story building, much of it completely surrounding a large atrium which serves as an exhibition hall.

The building features characteristics of Islamic architecture including multiple arches and arcades with lofty pillars. The center’s openness enables it to absorb the crowds sometimes attending simultaneous programs in a comfortable 1,000-seat auditorium, another auditorium that holds 250 people, two major exhibit halls, and a large library.

Old and New Technologies

In addition to its book collection area, which has the capacity for two million volumes, the library has several attached rooms in which patrons may use computers for on-line reference services including Internet access and also take computer and other instructional courses. Separate large and well-lighted rooms housing book collections and computer, audio-visual and instructional facilities also are available for children in the interest of keeping the research areas quiet and orderly.

The public is free, however, to wander throughout the Cultural Foundation complex. In one corridor, children may be found clustered around a large and beautifully maintained aquarium tank. Off a nearby corridor the writer found a woman journalist from a local magazine interviewing a Moroccan woman artist while visitors filed in and out of her exhibit.

In an outlying exhibition pavilion called the arts workshop, which is connected by a terrace to the main Cultural Foundation, was an American-trained Emiri woman artist, Mona Saeed Al-Darmaki, surrounded by friends and admirers on the final day of her exhibition of arrangements of oil paintings, dried flowers, and collages combining the two.

The Cultural Foundation also has a third building, in a different part of the city, which houses the National Archives. There all government documents are stored temporarily and then, according to a set time schedule, are reviewed to determine which documents should be preserved for historical research, and which eventually may be discarded. The procedure is similar to that followed by the U.S. National Archives.

The entire Cultural Foundation complex is testimony to a strong sense of history by Abu Dhabi’s ruler, Sheikh Zayed. The Old Fort now features an exhibition of documents on the history of the seven component emirates of the UAE, a collection of old photographs of Abu Dhabi, and an exhibit of the achievements of the UAE. Also housed in the Old Fort are separate collections of material on the Arabian Gulf and its ties with eastern Africa gathered from the diplomatic, scientific and national archives of Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Portugal, India, Iran, Turkey and even from distant Japan, in addition to material made available by neighboring Arab countries.

Also in the Old Fort is a natural history collection of fossils from the area and of animals, birds and fish that live in or migrate through the Emirates and its adjoining waters. There also are archeological finds from the UAE’s past, dating back to hunter-gatherers of the Stone Age, and a collection of weapons used by the people of the region through the ages.

Just as impressive as the Cultural Foundation’s meticulous concern with preserving and documenting the UAE’s past, however, is its concern with introducing the people of the UAE to the best of other cultures of the world. The program for April 1997 showed a remarkable diversity, including the annual Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, which brought publishers from all over the world, concerts, a poetry recital, a natural history lecture, Arabic, American and European films, a photography exhibition, an exhibition by a Japanese artist and ongoing Children’s Center activities.

The entire complex is a tribute not only to the foresight of the UAE’s enlightened ruler, but also to the deep commitment of his personal representative and chairman of the Cultural Foundation’s board of trustees, Ahmed Khalifa Al Suwaidi, and the latter’s son, Mohammed Ahmed Khalifa Al Suwaidi, who is general chairman of the Cultural Foundation.

Board chairman Ahmed Khalifa Al Suwaidi, former director of Abu Dhabi’s presidential court, the UAE’s first foreign minister, and now both a UAE senior statesman and trusted confidante of its president, has provided his personal support to the Documentation Center and the Cultural Foundation since their inception. His son, an energetic, hands-on director whose intense personal interest in history, art, music and film reflect the goals of the foundation, is continuing the tradition.

It seems certain that as Abu Dhabi continues its spectacular commercial and industrial growth into the 21st century, the values and traditions of its past will be faithfully preserved, and its openness to the ideas and culture of its global neighbors will be maintained by this most spectacular regional cultural institution.

SIDEBAR

Secretary-General Mohammed Ahmed Al Suwaidi

Secretary-General Mohammed Ahmed Al Suwaidi of Abu Dhabi’s Cultural Foundation clearly is the right man in the right job. His enthusiasms span the broad range of subjects covered by his foundation. When he entertains in his beautifully appointed high-rise apartment overlooking the Cultural Foundation, his guests include not only the foreign and local artists, writers and others invited to lecture or perform at the Cultural Center, but also personal friends from many parts of the Middle East and the world and a cross-section of the UAE’s academic and artistic community.

At a dinner at his home attended by the writer, guests, including one of Mohammed Al Suwaidi’s former university instructors, were shown an excerpt from the film “A Walk in the Clouds” by Italian producer-director Fedrico Fellini, a favorite of the host, in the apartment’s private theater. They also heard a recitation of original poetry in Turkish by yet another prominent friend who was visiting Abu Dhabi from Istanbul to lecture at the Cultural Foundation, along with translations into English by the poet for the benefit of English-speaking guests, and into Arabic by the host, Mohammed Al Suwaidi.

In fact, Mr. Al Suwaidi, who was born in Abu Dhabi in 1960 and who has a B.A. in economics from California Polytechnic University (Cal Poly), is an accomplished poet in his own right. His published poems and collections of poems include Ports of the Dawn (1986), Rosy Dreams (1988), Bracelets in the Arms of the Moon (1990), Tambourine Player (1993), Night Companion (1996) and Pathway of Dawn (1997).

In addition to his literary work he also is a member of the Supreme Board of Directors of Al Ain University, a major institute of higher learning in the Gulf, and a member of the Research Center for Islamic History, Art and Culture in Istanbul.

Mr. Al Suwaidi, who is married and has two daughters, also is a patron of the graphic arts, as reflected not only in the steady menu of exhibitions by both foreign and domestic artists in the Cultural Foundation, but also by the tastefully decorated walls of his residence.

Similarly, the lively, free-ranging discussions at Cultural Center programs have become a major venue for examining not only the UAE’s present, but for discussing its future in a rapidly changing and vitally important part of the globe.

Abdul Rahim Al Mahmood, an official of the presidential court who was the Cultural Foundation’s acting director for the first few years after it was founded in 1981, pays high tribute to his successor. “Under Mohammad Al Suwaidi’s leadership all of the early problems of the center have been solved,” according to Mr. Al Mahmood. “It has become a well-funded, well-administered and important institution offering not only educational instruction but also stimulating and thought-provoking programs that are deeply appreciated by all of the many UAE citizens—adults as well as young people—who attend them.”—RHC

Richard Curtiss is the executive editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.