00:01If you listen closely, Qatar is more than traffic and construction.
00:06In the outskirts of the city, a quieter rhythm is in motion.
00:11These walls hold history that was learned and handed down.
00:15This is the Al-Qatar House at Qatar's Education City.
00:19It's the perfect example of how a modern country is preserving cultural heritage.
00:24Originally home to one of Qatar's founding families,
00:27it's now a space which hosts cultural activities, workshops and not to mention a living museum.
00:34I'm Laila Humaira and this is Qatar in Motion.
00:42Did you know that Qatar and its GCC neighbours have seven elements currently inscribed
00:48in UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage?
00:52Last year, the Bishd and Al-Sadu weaving were inaugurated,
00:56joining Arabic coffee, henna, dates, falconry and the majlis.
01:02This year, the region is looking to add Al-Ardah, the traditional sword dance,
01:08the musical instrument Oud and Al-Safiyad plant weaving into the list.
01:15The Al-Qatar Heritage House is the home of the HERFA programme,
01:20Qatar Foundation's year-long course aimed at reviving the art of traditional crafts,
01:25deeply rooted in Qatari and Islamic culture.
01:29Launched in 2024, HERFA combines tradition and creativity
01:33to safeguard heritage arts and ancient craftsmanship.
01:37Long before the construction of state-of-the-art universities in Education City,
01:43the area, known as Al-Rayyan, was home to Qatar's earliest rulers and founding families.
01:49This location where we are now was one of the first inhabitants of all Al-Rayyan.
01:56So the Al-Khater family, or the late Fahad Al-Khater,
02:01relocated with his uncle, who was at the time ruler of Qatar,
02:04Sheikh Abdullah bin Jasim.
02:07And at the time there was nothing here, but the area was fertile and it had underground water.
02:11The ruler settled there with his nephew.
02:13And that is around the end of the 19th century, beginning of the 20th century, like the early 1900s.
02:22With the establishment of Qatar Foundation in 1995,
02:26Al-Rayyan became the cradle of knowledge and learning.
02:30Led by a vision to protect heritage, instead of being demolished,
02:35the old houses were incorporated into the construction of the area.
02:39Al-Khater House is a very unique cultural hub.
02:42It's one of the buildings that QF Restore,
02:46to promote cultural heritage and to stay as a hub for gathering generations
02:53around identity, heritage and culture, and to stay rooted as well.
02:58So the HRFA program is a unique program in the region, let's say,
03:02where it covers all the traditions, activities.
03:07At the Al-Khater House, participants of HRFA immerse themselves in a year-long coursework,
03:15which covers geometric drawing, nabati motifs, textiles, gypsum and ceramics, and marquetry.
03:23Being in this environment, or in this learning ecosystem,
03:27it's provided me the opportunity to disconnect from real life and reconnect with my senses,
03:33whether that's through touch or smell or sight.
03:36My favourite part of the program so far has been extracting colours from nature,
03:42whether that's through berries or through minerals or through rocks.
03:46Each structure of the building is used as classrooms, workstations, and places
03:51to store materials, inventory, or equipment like kilns.
03:56The Flower and Herb Garden is also where participants get to experiment
04:00with different types of plants and natural dyes.
04:03At the end of the program, they get to showcase their masterpiece
04:07and hopefully pass along what they've learned.
04:34It's quite fitting that a program aimed at preserving traditional craftsmanship
04:38is being hosted within the grounds of a heritage house,
04:42which itself has been refurbished to ensure that the legacy of Qatar's founding families lives on.
04:50The Qatar House has some unique features that you don't see in an urban Qatari house.
04:57This is a rural setup for a Qatari house connected to agriculture.
05:01The large courtyard is needed because of the need from an agricultural perspective,
05:06the availability of land, and also there was an area at the back that used to house animals.
05:13We have the majlis, which is the main hospitality space for Qatar in Qatari tradition.
05:20Among other features that were kept through to the original form are the mosque,
05:24the main gate, the stone walls and denshell roofs,
05:28as well as the road that leads to the royal family's home.
05:31For the Herfa participants, the opportunity to visit the Al-Qatar House every day
05:37to learn about Islamic art and traditional craftsmanship
05:40gives them a profound appreciation and deep contemplation about beauty.
05:45I feel that if you are surrounded by beauty continuously,
05:50it changes you in terms of your reflection of beauty in thought,
05:56beauty in speech, beauty in behaviour, beauty in values.
06:00And to be surrounded by that remembrance continuously
06:05can only make us more humane and better human beings.
06:08And it's exactly these values that Qatar Foundation believes
06:12forms the foundations of a successful nation.
06:16When you are faithful to your roots, to your traditions,
06:19and you are faithful to your basics,
06:21you are able to develop into your own identity farther away.
06:28You don't disconnect.
06:29So we are trying to be connected and rooted to what Qatar is
06:34and what Qatar identity and heritage is.
06:36And not only hand them material, cultural, heritage aspect,
06:39but they think it's an all-out and educational research and everything else.
06:45Among many organisations helping to advance Qatar Foundation's mission
06:49is the Qatar National Library.
06:51It launched the Family Digital Papers Project last year,
06:54aimed at building a platform to access documents and artefacts
06:58from Qatar's founding families.
07:00The initiative provides a window to early life in Qatar,
07:04and Q&L is going a step further to ensure
07:07that these heritage items are safeguarded forever.
07:10The initiative Naft is a part of the ecosystem area.
07:14The trip has been around the landscape to the rest of the FIf,
07:14and therefore keep it from the出來 environment.
07:17It is of course helping이었던ólis G Sur leche testing.
08:06Grazie per la visione
08:09e poi ci sono stati a passare a passare le risposte
08:12e ci sono stati a passare le risposte
08:16e sono stati importanti e sono stati più importanti
08:18a fare l'immagine di Quattro e anche a questo
08:25è considerato il risultato e il risultato
08:27per le risposte delle risposte
08:29e le risposte del quattro
08:32La stigione di Qtore
09:02in le scopi di un'academia che si è considerato una cosa che è considerato molto importante
09:08queste le fai le fai le fai le fai le fai le fai le fai le fai le fai le
09:17fai le fai le fai le fai le fai
09:23è di metà chi ha per il meseo per tutti i atteggiati del coraggio di Pertone.
09:28Il coraggio di aiutare la ricerca del coraggio dell'europello,
09:33per aiutare la ricerca che hanno riuscito a sottolineare il coraggio del coraggio del coraggio del coraggio.
09:37Adesso lo c'è più grande,
09:40ci sono due attuali attuali i portatori e sottotitoli.
09:43Ci sono persone che migranno iniziare iniziando a riusciare a mettere iniziare a ottersi e attraverso l'arrivo della coraggio
09:50del coraggio.
09:54From the cradle of knowledge to the epicenter of culture,
09:57it's here within the grounds of the National Museum of Qatar
10:00that the country's leadership flourished.
10:03Today, the museum brings Qatar's story to the world
10:06as custodians and protectors of cultural heritage.
10:10To keep it, to keep it alive, to preserve it, to expand its life, so to speak.
10:16That could take many shapes, many forms.
10:19It could be conservation, consolidation, restoration, renovation.
10:24Adaptive reuse.
10:25Culture is about multiple ownership, a network of ownership.
10:30It's about people appreciating the value of what you see.
10:33If people stop visiting the Mona Lisa, it will cease to be of value.
10:39So as many people as you want to own the space,
10:44to feel like they're attached to the space,
10:46to feel like they are related to the space somehow,
10:48you can continue to preserve that space for the future generations.
10:54The heritage fails when we preserve the fabric and lose the narrative.
10:59So is this building only special because it's a palace, it's 110 years old,
11:05or is it special because it was a place where some leaders were born,
11:09future leaders were born, treaties were signed, meetings happened,
11:14early formation of government, early formation of financial systems,
11:18early formation of Shura Council.
11:20There is so much narrative that has happened in this place,
11:23and usually the mark, the building, the monument is only the symbol that remains.
11:30You preserve an element so that the story can continue to resonate.
11:37From heritage houses to traditional craftsmanship,
11:40Qatar's dedication to preserving cultural heritage
11:43is as robust as the skyscrapers its building
11:46and the technological innovations that's driving the country forward.
11:50That's all the time we have for now.
11:52Thanks for watching Qatar In Motion, and see you next time.
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