The Syrian-born scholar Nasser Rabbat views recent projects of some Gulf countries to document and preserve elements of Islamic art and architecture as “an attempt to create a national identity and collective memory, to ignite a sense of belonging among citizens.”
This approach is “understandable and justified, especially when countries have the financial capabilities and realise that documentation is part of restoring or creating this national identity, given the young age of these countries,” Rabbat, who is the Aga Khan Professor and director of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told Al-Fanar Media In a Zoom interview.
However, Rabbat criticises some documentation projects for overlooking architecture that “does not serve the promotional goal”, such as the Bedouin architecture and the architecture of workers recruited in Gulf cities. “This might have given greater benefit to readers rather than just neutral, cold information,” he said.