Al-Ahsa Oasis Cultural Heritage Landscape

Description

Al-Ahsa Province is located in the Eastern region, 360 km from Riyadh, and 150 km from Dammam. Al- Ahsa is considered one of the largest natural agricultural palm oases in the world, also has an important geographical and strategic location chose it to play a major role in the regional history since ancient times, it had cultural links with ancient world civilizations in the Levant, Egypt and Mesopotamia, it is the Gateway to the Arabian Peninsula to the outside world and a communication bridge of between the Gulf and the Indian sub-continent, as it was and still a land port that connects the Kingdom with other Gulf states like: UAE, Qatar and Oman, where pilgrims caravans crossed from these countries to the Holy land. Al-Ahsa was and still is one of the richest areas of groundwater sources, it is one of the best tourist destinations where its green plateaus with its farms and palms constitute a living garden amid a sea of sand; as a result of the large number of water springs that flowed naturally and profusely from more than 162 springs between warm, hot and cold water. It also occupies large areas of palms more than three million palm trees spread over 10,000 hectares of agricultural land producing the best types of dates in the world, add this to production of Ahsa’ie rice and various fruits and vegetables. 

Location: Al-Ahsa occupies a large area in the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula, from the North Abqaiq province, from the east of the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Salwa, from the south the Empty Quarter and western desert of Dahna. Al-Ahsa is privileged with a distinct geographic location, it is considered the land port that connects the Kingdom to the Gulf countries, the distance from the State of Qatar 150 km and from Dammam 150 km and from the capital Riyadh 328 kilometers, showing the importance of Al-Ahsa as a mediated distance from Riyadh or Dammam to neighboring Gulf countries, witnessing constant convoys of cars coming from Oman, the UAE and Qatar heading to cities across the the Kingdom and in particular Makkah and Medina via the Al-Ahsa, which enhances its business situation

Historic Background and Urban Heritage: Al-Ahsa is one of the oldest human settlement centers in the Arabian Peninsula, was dubbed by the name of Bahrain, then called Hajar name, and then carried the name of Al-Ahsa. Al-Ahsa gained historical significance of its occurrence on the road between Yemen and Iraq and the presence of the port Al-Uqair on the Arabian Gulf, in addition to the availability of water and the natural springs, and the large number of date palm groves that cover vast tracts of Oasis. Al-Ahsa has been known since antiquity, with science, education, and cultural contact with the inside outside. It is situated in a prominent location linking Saudi Arabia with the Gulf States. Al-Hofuf city is the capital of Al-Ahsa province. Al-Ahsa province is considered one of the oldest areas that on its soil originated human civilizations, and its historical dimension impacted in the flourishing of the province (especially the oasis). In old times being a conduit for the movement of trade and convoys, as the importance of its urban heritage with potentials and elements of urban provisions made for Al-Ahsa province appears in highlighting the many social, economic and development aspects of life, while drawing many principles and lessons to benefit from and measuring against. Towns and villages of Al-Ahsa province are also characterized by the presence of old neighborhoods that are part of the contemporary city, which later spread modern urbanism (Al-Koot, Al-Na’athel... etc in Al- Hofuf) and what these urban neighborhoods contain from urban landmarks and remains of high value.

The Current view of the Oasis: Despite the growth, development and change, which have seen population in the oasis of Al-Ahsa in the past years, in the form of enforcing streets grids and the establishment of new buildings, the city still maintains the old image and the unity of composition and harmony of the relationship between neighborhoods. The only noticeable change is outside the boundaries of the old city as new housing units have spread around the new roads, and most of these units spread spontaneously often mimicking the topography. The picture of the new neighborhoods was complete after the construction of public buildings, and its relation to the main lines of public services in addition to the establishment of the commercial centers, as the city of Al-Hofuf began to be the administrative capital of the surrounding provinces after connecting to Al-Mabraz and with the rest of the Oasis villages with network of paved roads. Where the latter has helped make the government departments buildings concentrated there.

Justification de la Valeur Universelle Exceptionelle

Al-Ahsa is the famous oasis for dates and water springs, the greenest place in eastern Saudi Arabia. Where more than 1.5 million and date Palm Grow, considered the largest palm oasis surrounded by sand in the world, making it creditable competitor in International Seven Wonders of the World contest. On the banks of this oasis of intense agricultural work with abundance of water and fresh water springs, characterized with the advantage that led to the derivation of its name, which is the large number of (Hesi) or water springs, wherein natural springs that reached international fame, such as: Al-Johariyah, Um Sab’a, Al-Khdood, Al-Harra, Um Deli Ain Najm, In addition to the sulfur water and its beautiful environment.

Criterion (ii): Al-Ahsa developed at the crossroads of important trade routes linking the south and central parts of Arabia to the Arabian Gulf and to the civilization centers in Mesopotamia and Persia, and it became an outstanding example of the interaction of the various cultural influences.

Criterion (iii): Al-Ahsa and its Cultural Landscape represent an exceptional testimony to the development of a trading settlement in the desert environment of the Arabia.

Criterion (iv): Al-Ahsa represents an outstanding example of a commercial settlement and citadel in the east Arabian region, based on the use of various mud construction techniques.

Criterion (v): The cultural landscape of Al-Ahsa is an outstanding representation of the interaction of man and nature in a desert environment, use of irrigation system based on a strict social system with precise tasks and responsibilities, which have been maintained in use until the present, but has now become vulnerable to irreversible change.

Déclarations d’authenticité et/ou d’intégrité

Integrity: The integrity of the urban fabric is generally good. The property includes sufficiently large ensembles of characteristic built structures  to  enable  them  to  be  well  understood. However, the architectural integrity of the buildings is under threat in many cases, because of abandonment and lack of maintenance. The integrity of the urban landscape might be under threat from the pressure for property linked urban sprawl.

Authenticity: The authenticity of the urban fabric has been generally conserved, enabling satisfactory expression of the Outstanding Universal Value of the property. While some buildings, which are generally the public ones, have been restored and reused, the architectural integrity of a large number of buildings is often mediocre or poor, and their authenticity has in some cases been adversely affected by alterations which are not in keeping with the original design.

Comparaison avec d’autres biens similaires

City of Graz – Historic Centre and Schloss Eggenberg

The City of Graz – Historic Centre and Schloss Eggenberg bear witness to an exemplary model of the living heritage of a central European urban complex influenced by the secular presence of the Habsburgs and the cultural and artistic role played by the main aristocratic families. They are a harmonious blend of the architectural styles and artistic movements that have succeeded each other from the Middle Ages until the 18th century, from the many neighboring regions of Central and Mediterranean Europe. They embody a diversified and highly comprehensive ensemble of architectural, decorative and landscape examples of these interchanges of influence.

Historic Centre of Brugge

Brugge is an outstanding example of a medieval historic settlement, which has maintained its historic fabric as this has evolved over the centuries, and where original Gothic constructions form part of the town's identity. As one of the commercial and cultural capitals of Europe, Brugge developed cultural links to different parts of the world. It is closely associated with the school of Flemish Primitive painting.

Historic Centre of the Town of Goiás

Goiás testifies to the occupation and colonization of the lands of central Brazil in the 18th and 19th centuries. The urban layout is an example of the organic development of a mining town, adapted to the conditions of the site. Although modest, both public and private architecture form a harmonious whole, thanks to the coherent use of local materials and vernacular techniques.

Historic Town of Grand-Bassam

The first capital of Côte d’Ivoire, the Historic Town of Grand-Bassam, is an example of a late 19th-and early 20th-century colonial town planned with quarters specializing in commerce, administration, housing for Europeans and for Africans. The site includes the N’zima African fishing village alongside colonial architecture marked by functional houses with galleries, verandas and gardens. Grand-Bassam was the most important port, economic and judicial centre of Côte d’Ivoire. It bears witness to the complex social relations between Europeans and Africans, and to the subsequent independence movement. As a vibrant center of the territory of French trading posts in the Gulf of Guinea, which preceded modern Côte d’Ivoire, it attracted populations from all parts of Africa, Europe and the Mediterranean Levant.

Historic Centre (Old Town) of Tallinn

The origins of Tallinn date back to the 13th century, when a castle was built there by the crusading knights of the Teutonic Order. It developed as a major centre of the Hanseatic League, and its wealth is demonstrated by the opulence of the public buildings (the churches in particular) and the domestic architecture of the merchants' houses, which have survived to a remarkable degree despite the ravages of fire and war in the intervening centuries.

Bam and its Cultural Landscape

Bam is situated in a desert environment on the southern edge of the Iranian high plateau. The origins of Bam can be traced back to the Achaemenid period (6th to 4th centuries BC). Its heyday was from the 7th to 11th centuries, being at the crossroads of important trade routes and known for the production of silk and cotton garments. The existence of life in the oasis was based on the underground irrigation canals, the qanāts, of which Bam has preserved some of the earliest evidence in Iran. Arg-e Bam is the most representative example of a fortified medieval town built in vernacular technique using mud layers (Chineh).

Venice and its Lagoon

Founded in the 5th century and spread over 118 small islands, Venice became a major maritime power in the 10th century. The whole city is an extraordinary architectural masterpiece in which even the smallest building contains works by some of the world's greatest artists such as Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese and others.

Lamu Old Town

Lamu  Old  Town  is  the  oldest  and  best-preserved  Swahili  settlement  in  East  Africa,  retaining  its traditional  functions.  Built  in  coral  stone  and  mangrove  timber,  the  town  is  characterized  by  the simplicity of structural forms enriched by such features as inner courtyards, verandas, and elaborately carved wooden doors. Lamu has hosted major Muslim religious festivals since the 19th century, and has become a significant centre for the study of Islamic and Swahili cultures.

City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and Fortifications

Because of its strategic position, Luxembourg was, from the 16th century until 1867, when its walls were dismantled, one of Europe's greatest fortified sites. It was repeatedly reinforced as it passed from one great European power to another: the Holy Roman Emperors, the House of Burgundy, the Habsburgs, the French and Spanish kings, and finally the Prussians. Until their partial demolition, the fortifications were a fine example of military architecture spanning several centuries.

Historic Centre of Morelia

Built in the 16th century, Morelia is an outstanding example of urban planning which combines the ideas of the Spanish Renaissance with the Mesoamerican experience. Well-adapted to the slopes of the hill site, its streets still follow the original layout. More than 200 historic buildings, all in the region's characteristic pink stone, reflect the town's architectural history, revealing a masterly and eclectic blend of the medieval spirit with Renaissance, Baroque and neoclassical elements. Morelia was the birthplace of several important personalities of independent Mexico and has played a major role in the country's history.

Historic Centre of Zacatecas

Founded in 1546 after the discovery of a rich silver lode, Zacatecas reached the height of its prosperity in the 16th and 17th centuries. Built on the steep slopes of a narrow valley, the town has breathtaking views and there are many old buildings, both religious and civil. The cathedral, built between 1730 and 1760, dominates the center of the town. It is notable for its harmonious design and the Baroque profusion of its façades, where European and indigenous decorative elements are found side by side. 

Medina of Fez

Founded in the 9th century and home to the oldest university in the world, Fez reached its height in the 13th–14th centuries under the Marinids, when it replaced Marrakesh as the capital of the kingdom. The urban fabric and the principal monuments in the medina (Madras (Chernai), fondouks, palaces, residences, mosques and fountains) date from this period. Although the political capital of Morocco was transferred to Rabat in 1912, Fez has retained its status as the country's cultural and spiritual center.

Rabat, Modern Capital and Historic City: a Shared Heritage

Located on the Atlantic coast in the north-west of Morocco, the site is the product of a fertile exchange between the Arabo-Muslim past and Western modernism. The inscribed city encompasses the new town conceived and built under the French Protectorate from 1912 to the 1930s, including royal and administrative areas, residential and commercial developments and the Jardins d’Essais botanical and pleasure gardens. It also encompasses older parts of the city dating back to the 12thcentury. The new town is one of the largest and most ambitious modern urban projects built in Africa in the 20th century and probably the most complete. The older parts include Hassan Mosque (begun in 1184) and the Almohad ramparts and gates, the only surviving parts of the project for a great capital city of the Almohad caliphate as well as remains from the Moorish, or Andalusian, principality of the 17thcentury.