By Mubarak Al-Enezi
KUWAIT, Sept 24 (KUNA) -- The Dar Al Athar Al Islamiyyah has played a distinctive role in the preservance of monuments and formed an incubator on the global level where its activities have extended to include a variety of cultural aspects forming a mosaic painting decorating the Kuwaiti cultural aspect.
Dar Al Athar Al Islamiyyah, founded in 1983, has taken a distinctive role in the preservation of artifacts and antiquities and adopted various artistic and cultural events including exhibitions of art and architecture, specialized seminars, musical evenings and concerts from around the world.
And as an institution concerned with artifacts and monuments comprised by (Al-Sabah Archaeological Group), the Dar has made a civilized, humane and cultural legay to be a reference for future generations and a link to the past and a long history produced by humanity over many centuries.
The Dar has been keen to collect monuments and antiques for more than three decades that trace back to the eras of Islamic history and before that an initiative to care for Islamic art in particular, thanks to the special attention by Minister of Amiri Diwan Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and the strenuous efforts by the General Supervisor of the Dar Sheikha Hussa Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah.
The two began in the mid-seventies of the last century acquisition of a group of esteemed monuments crafted by human hands since immemorial time forming the first seed to set up the Dar where it was inaugurated at the Kuwait National Museum complex in 1983.
The Dar has also played a large and important role in the revival of heritage and ancient crafts, where it established in the eighties and nineties an arts center run by professional specialists, through which technical courses in the various arts of ceramics, clay, painting, decoration and fabric as well as the restoration of monuments and artifacts were held.
The Dar has faced a number of difficulties and has been able to overcome, thanks to the determination and proper planning and execution especially during the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait in 1990, which destroyed the cultural infrastructure in addition to the looting of archaeological objects and taking them to Baghdad.
After liberation, and according to the United Nations resolution to get back looted Kuwaiti properties, Kuwait had succeeded in restoring antiques that had been damaged seriously, prompting the Dar to work with all determination and defiance of the conditions on restoring Kuwaiti cultural life where a program for the restoration of antiques and rehabilitation of the Kuwait National Museum building had been set.
In this regard, general supervisor of the Dar Sheikha Hussa Sabah Al-Sabah said in an interview with Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that the cultural role played by the Dar includes everything that has to deal with culture in the country.
She added that the most important objectives of the Dar is spreading of the archaeological, cultural and humanitarian awareness and encourage those interested in learning about different ages of Islam and show creations of the civilization of Muslim countries since its inception in the early eighties of the last century through the presentation of (Al-Sabah Archaeological Collections) at the National Museum, as well as establishment of the heritage library with more than 7,000 books and manuscripts.(end). mdm.tg