Publications

Bandyopadhyay, S., Quattrone, G., Goffriller, M., et al., 2013. Bahla Fort and Oasis World Heritage Site, Dakhiliyah Governorate: Documentation and Heritage Management and Development Plan.

Summary

This Heritage Management Plan for the settlement of al-Aqr in Bāhla builds on the extensive fieldwork documentation carried out on site, as well as on the interim field report submitted on December 17th 2012. Alongside providing a comprehensive drawn documentation resulting from the survey carried out in October 2012, this report includes a preliminary strategic Master Plan which addresses issues of heritage management, conservation and development, as well as approaches for its implementation.

The Master Plan illustrates areas and categories of development and conservation to be carried out, which builds on a statement of significance, and assessments of the state of conservation and the threats to heritage management at Hārat al-Aqr, drawing on the experiences of researching and developing Master Plan for Hārat al-Yemen (2011) and Hārat as-Sulayf (2012). The report also includes a comprehensive inventory of structural and non-structural defects present at the settlement as well as a study of the oasis context.

The Master Plan is informed by a comprehensive documentation, analysis and interpretation of the settlement structure, morphology, building typology and social conditions of the present and the immediate past. On this basis, a culturally and technically informed development plan is proposed, which advocates a sustainable revitalization centred on re-habitation, heritage tourism, education, training and skill development programmes with emphasis on traditional knowledge of the built environment and the crafts. As already suggested in previous reports for Bāhla by UNESCO and Atkins the intention is to move away from an entirely tourism-focused development and towards a more sustainable alternative. Key areas are identified in the Master Plan for protection, restoration, rebuilding, consolidation and redevelopment.