Pearling Testimony of an island economy Bahrain
Pearling, testimony of an island economy consists of 17 buildings in Murharraq 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 buildings listed 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 cultural identity of the island's society.
Continent: Asia
Country: Bahrain
Category: Caltural
Criterion: (III)
Date of Inscription: 2012
Harvesting Pearls
The traditional sea-use of harvesting pearls from oyster beds in the Persian Gulf shaped the island of Bahrain's economy for millennia. As the best-known source of pearls since ancient times, the Gulf industry reached the apex of its prosperity at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. The wealth of what had become a global trade is reflected in the development of the merchant quarters of Muharraq city.
 |
| Siyadi Complex |
