ShareKUWAIT: The National Council for Culture, Arts, and Letters (NCCAL) is collaborating with the French Research Centre of the Arabian Peninsula (CEFREPA) to equip Kuwaiti architects and archaeologists with the skills needed to restore and preserve the country’s historical buildings. As part of the collaboration, French scientific research company ARCHAÏOS has conducted a training course for a group of 10 architects and engineers from NCCAL.
French Ambassador to Kuwait Olivier Gauvin highlighted France’s efforts in heritage preservation. “As you know, France is very active in this field and has established an international network of nearly 30 research centers dedicated to the humanities and social sciences,” he said, adding that these centers are designed to foster scientific collaboration with partner countries such as Kuwait.
Gauvin expressed hope that Kuwaiti French joint initiatives “will not only strengthen our collaborations, but also elevate them to a strategic level, fully aligned with Kuwait Vision 2035.” The preservation of tangible and intangible heritage stands at the heart of critical discussions around the world, he continued. Dr Makram Abbes, Director of CEFREPA, said Kuwait is home to a variety of historically significant buildings.
“In Kuwait the heritage is very rich. Old buildings, old architectural style, exists, and there is a choice between demolishing these buildings, for example, Diwan Khazaal, or working on restoring (them) because of course it carries many memories,” he said.
Dr Abbes emphasized that these buildings are filled with symbols that reflect Kuwait’s history, including its building techniques, as well as its scientific, cultural, and artistic heritage. He added that studying these aspects provides a clear idea of how a society lived during a certain period. “They give us a clear idea of identity, meaning these buildings are linked to identity, history, and memory,” he said. “When Kuwaiti colleagues ask us to bring expertise or access to specialists in a field, we try to provide assistance because it is a partnership, an exchange of views, of knowledge and an exchange of skills between Kuwaitis and researchers from France, Europe or others.”
Zahra Ali Baba, historical buildings official at the NCCAL explained that the program, which started on December 1 and will continue until December 12, includes Kuwaiti civil engineers and architects from the department responsible for the restoration and preservation of historical buildings at the council.
She explained that the program trains engineers and guides them on how to document historical buildings and analyze their stages of development over time, allowing them to identify which parts need preservation and which require restoration. She added that the lectures and workshops provided by ARCHAÏOS “will assist us in developing strategies for reusing historical buildings in Kuwait.”
Reem Bukhamseen, Interior Designer and landscape architect, in the department of historical buildings at the NCCAL said that over the past week, two members from ARCHAÏOS have taught at the workshop, Sarra Ben Bader, an architect, and archeologist Gabriela Camargo-Mendez.
“We focused on several key aspects related to a building and its spaces: surveying and documentation, analysis of materials and construction methods, stratigraphic and chronological assessment, functional evaluation, and restitution,” she said.
Bukhamseen added that during the workshop, the engineers have been examining a fire-damaged site in Souq Al-Mubarakiya. They used field surveys and historical documentation to identify building materials and construction techniques, and digitally reconstructed the site as it would have appeared before the damage. Part of the workshop also focuses on organizing data collection, which is a massive part of building archaeology and its successful implementation, she added.
“We hope that this workshop will provide the team at NCCAL with the necessary skill sets to be able to analyze, document and interpret archaeological data derived from historic built structures and heritage sites in Kuwait through detailed field surveys in an effort to be able to expand the group of individuals with these skill sets to further document the large collection of historic buildings and sites Kuwait has to offer,” she continued.
