Abu Dhabi’s Cultural Foundation to be revitalised

With the opening of the Qasr Al Hosn Festival on Wednesday, the public were granted temporary access to two of Abu Dhabi’s most important historic buildings for the second time in as many years.

At first sight, Qasr Al Hosn and the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation make unlikely neighbours. Part-fortress and part-royal residence, Qasr Al Hosn is as central to the story of Abu Dhabi as the Topkapi Palace is to Istanbul.

A place of history, Qasr Al Hosn is a symbol of Emirati identity and a fully fledged monument whose place in the national narrative is established and assured.

Some 220 years younger, the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation is in a different situation: commissioned in 1974 as the home of the first national library, theatre and community and arts centre, its significance is only just starting to be understood.

“I remember when there were rumours about the building’s demolition,” says architect Yasser Elsheshtawy, associate professor of architecture at United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain.

“There was great resistance and there was even a Facebook page created to try and save the Cultural Foundation. You could see that there was great nostalgia towards the building and what it meant to people. It wasn’t just a cultural centre or a place for workshops and reading books, it was a great meeting place. That really comes across when people recall their memories of the building.”

For the duration of this year’s Qasr Al Hosn Festival, the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation will be open to the public for only the second time since 2009 when the building was closed and earmarked for demolition.

Original article by Nick Leech

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Abu Dhabi’s Cultural Foundation to be revitalised