Pearling, Testimony of an Island Economy

Overview

The site consists of seventeen buildings in Muharraq City, three offshore oyster beds, part of the seashore and the Qal’at Bu Mahir fortress on the southern tip of Muharraq Island, from where boats used to set off for the oyster beds. The listed buildings include residences of wealthy merchants, shops, storehouses and a mosque. The site is the last remaining complete example of the cultural tradition of pearling and the wealth it generated at a time when the trade dominated the Gulf economy (2nd century to the 1930s, when Japan developed cultured pearls). It also constitutes an outstanding example of traditional utilization of the sea’s resources and human interaction with the environment, which shaped both the economy and the cultural identity of the island’s society.

Selection Criteria

(iii)

Components(20 locations)

• •Murad House1364rev-010
• •Fakhro House1364rev-009
• •Murad Majlis1364rev-011
• •Siyadi Shops1364rev-012
• •Siyadi House1364rev-015a
• •Hayr Shtayyah1364rev-003
• •Al-Alawi House1364rev-008
• •Siyadi Majlis1364rev-015b
• •Siyadi Mosque1364rev-015c
• •Nūkhidhah House1364rev-014
• •Al-Ghūṣ House1364rev-005
• •Al-Jalahma House1364rev-007
• •Badr Ghulum House1364rev-006
• •Hayr Bū-l-Thāmah1364rev-001
• •Hayr Bū ‘Amāmah1364rev-002
• •Bū Māhir Seashore1364rev-004a
• •Qal‘at Bū Māhir1364rev-004b
• •Amārat Yousif A.‘Fakhro1364rev-013a
• •‘Amārat Ali Rashed Fakhro (I)1364rev-013b
• •‘Amārat Ali Rashed Fakhro (II)1364rev-013c

Details

Countries

Bahrain

ISO Codes

BH

Area

35,086.81 ha

Coordinates

26.2413, 50.6135