Al Zubarah becomes UNESCO World Heritage Site
The Qatar Museums Authority has announced that UNESCO named the abandoned historical coastal town Al Zubarah Archeological Site to the World Heritage List.
This was announced during the 37th session of UNESCO World Heritage Committee that was held in Cambodia.
Zubarah, which is some 100 km northwest of Doha and "one of the largest and best preserved examples of an 18th-19th century traditional pearl fishing and merchant town in the Gulf," is the first site in Qatar to make the list.
It is now perhaps best known by tourists for its famous fort of the same name.
Many of its archaeological finds, which were excavated in the 1950s, are now part of the National Museum of Qatars (NMoQ) permanent collection.
Sheikh Hassan Bin Mohamed Bin Ali Al Thani, QMAs Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees, was present at the UNESCO event and said in a statement: "It is very significant to include Al Zubarah in Qatar as part of the UNESCO World Heritage list as a historical site that must be protected."
"This follows the enormous effort by Qatar in ensuring the preservation and conservation of this historical site, leading it to be internationally recognized for its human legacy, specially that Al Zubarah is significant to many of the Gulf nationals."
The UNESCO designation as a World Heritage Site brings Zubarah more explicitly under the protection of the Law of War under the Geneva Convention.
During UNESCOs 37th session in Cambodia this week, Indias Hill Forts of Rajasthan, Canadas Red Bay Basque Whaling Station and Namibias Namib Sand Sea, among others, were also inscribed into the list.
The World Heritage List also includes more than 900 other natural and cultural sites, like the the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt and Petra in Jordan. (QNA)
Have you visited Zubarah Fort? Click here for directions on how to get there.
It's great that it has been designated a World Heritage Site, but access to the site is now blocked to the public. In some ways that's good, as people used to tear through the ruins four-wheeling, running over everything. But now people can't even visit to walk through unless by getting special permission from...no one knows. For a good video of the village before the barrier went up, go to http://www.qataryankee.com/Expedition2.html and look for Al Zubara Village.
nice view very good pic
Impressive,,, hope LL will take me their :P
See the video about Al Zubara here:
Already posted http://www.qatarliving.com/node/15516391 thanks.