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Taking place on 13  September in Kazan, Russia, the 2019 Aga Khan  Award proceedings will include a seminar and the Award Ceremony and will be webcast live, from the Kazan Kremlin , which the chief historic citadel of Russia, situated in the city of Kazan. Bahrain’s “ Revitalization of Muharraq” project is one of the five projects of the  Aga Khan Award for Architecture that has announced the 20-project shortlist for its 2019 cycle. H.E Shaikha Mai Bint Mohammad Al-Khalifa will receive the award.

Indeed, Bahrain offers testimony on the pearl trade in the Arabian Peninsula over the centuries, especially when Bahrain thrived during the 19th century, “ The Project, which highlights the World Heritage site’s pearling history, was first initiated as a series of restoration and reuse projects. The project evolved into a comprehensive programme that aimed to rebalance the city’s demographic makeup by creating public spaces, providing community and cultural venues, and improving the overall environment.” According to the Aga Khan Award committee, the project, initiated as a series of restoration and adaptive reuse of a number of edifices under the Sheikh Ebrahim Centre for Culture and Research, has evolved into a comprehensive programme entitled “Pearling Path, Testimony of an Island Economy”, UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2012,  involving various architects, planners and researchers. The project both highlights the town’s pearling history and aims to re-balance its demographic makeup, enticing local families back through improvements to the environment and provision of community and cultural venues. Facilitated by private–public partnerships, it involves the preservation of a number of sites and numerous buildings, from humble divers’ houses to prestigious courtyard residences to commercial warehouses; plus the upgrading of other façades, and the construction of four new buildings. All of these are connected through a visitor pathway, with vacant plots left by demolitions landscaped as public spaces. The preservation/restoration of the traditional buildings included reinstating lost wind towers for natural climate control.

The 2019 Aga Khan  Award is not a first major international award recognition testimony of the city of Muharraq as genuine historical, cultural, architectural and urban fabrics’ hub, given that in 2018, the city was celebrated as the Capital of Islamic culture for a whole year. During 2018, a series of cultural projects, such as the inauguration of Pearling Path Visitor Center, a UNESCO World Heritage site. In 2010, Bahrain was present in the trophies and awards world, winning the  2010 Venice Biennale, as the first Arab country  to be honored with the Golden Lion Award for Bahraini fisherman’s hut on the shoreline, basically inspired by urban elements form the city of Muharraq.

The city of Muharraq also hosts many  new buildings respect the historic environment’s scale and street lines while making bold contemporary architectural statements. In addition to  the Pearling Path Visitor and Shaikh Ebrahim Center Centre and the House of Architectural Heritage that adopt a Brutalist aesthetic, Bahrain Culture Authority manages many other important cultural venues in the city, such as Al-Hidaya al Khalifiya School, Al-Khalifiya Library. The  2015 Milano Expo Archaeologies of Green pavilion features a series of interlinking gardens containing indigenous plants; and the Dar Al Jinaa Centre for Traditional Music is inventively cloaked in chain mail, shielding against solar glare while allowing a constant breeze. Music events here and elsewhere in the programme include performances of pearl-fishers’ songs.

 Worth to mention that the Aga Khan Award winners, in addition to“ Revitalization of Muharraq”,  are “ Arcadia Education Project”, Project in South Kanarchor (Bangladesh), Palestinian Museum in Birzeit (Palestine), Public Spaces Development Programme in the Republic of Tatarstan, Alioune Diop University Teaching and Research Unit in Bambey (Senegal) and Wasit Wetland Centre in Sharjah (UAE).