Preserving the Future
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Qatar People, Qatar Interviews|
QH catches up with the man behind the Qatar Museums Authority, and finds out what’s lying under the desert sand, and how it can change the way we view history. | |
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Company: Qatar Museums Authority
Designation: Executive Director
Date:
01/01/2010 | |
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He may be displaying history, but Roger Mandle is also creating the future.
As Executive Director of the Qatar Museums Authority, he’s in charge of preserving the past- and that, he says, will dictate what happens next.
“I think it’s important that Qatari’s learn about their culture, their history and traditions because as we move into the 21st century, globalism is such an important force, it can take away the strength of a place and the strength of a unique character of a place,” said the Massachusetts native. “And I think what Qatar is trying to do is to discover and enrich its own culture and place it on the world stage so it can share its culture with others. And (with) a strong local culture, it can resist being homogenized and sort of being taken over. I think that’s really important. I think that they’ll find that there were much earlier cultures here than have been previously understood to have inhabited this area. And I think those discoveries will show that there was definitely much more civilization here, active. Those things will also influence Qatari school education, reinforcing the sense of Qatari history and pride.”
It’s something that many people, even within the country, aren’t aware of. Many people have the impression there wasn’t much going on here, even as recently as 20 years ago.
“Let me correct something: Qatar has always been something important in this region. In fact, even going back before the Ottoman times, it was probably the
most important port in the silk trade route, located on the Gulf here in Qatar. There is a wonderful history of that area that is yet to be told. The excavation is ongoing right now. One can find Chinese export porcelain shards there, one can find all sorts of things that are representative of the fact that this was a collecting basin for the trade routes from all over the world,” he said. “It’s always been international, it’s always been a place that celebrated a variety of cultures including the Qatari one. I think that having found out that the ancestors of this culture here are much more deeply and long rooted will enhance people’s pride of this area.”
That’s the reasoning behind the many cultural and museum projects undertaken by the Museum Authorityfrom the Museum of Islamic Art, which has seen over
300,000 visitors in it’s first year of existence and holds one of the best collections of Islamic art in the world, to the revamped National Museum, due to be opened in 2013.
“What’s really important about having museums here is to help people know more about and respect and love their own culture, but to also share their culture
with the rest of the world. To help people who come here as guests or as tourists to understand what’s truly important about the Gulf,” said Mandle. “I think there’s a real intense pride about Qatar here. Look what happens on National Day. The streets are clogged, the parks are full, people turn out, flags are flying from people’s cars and their windows, it’s really wonderful
to see that kind of passion about the place. And not just from Qataris, but from other people who move here from all over the world. One of the things I’ve learned about this culture is it’s a fierce culture, one that’s very proud of its land. Qatar and its ruling tribal families staunchly defended this land against invaders and tried to keep the culture very strong, and I think that’s still very much evident today.”
But it’s also a history that didn’t leave much behind. Unlike other ancient civilizations that left monuments visible from space littered around the landscape, what’s in Qatar isn’t as immediately visible- but it’s just as rich, Mandle says.
“First of all, in Qatar as in (most of the Gulf countries), most of the culture was (migratory) or closely attached to the sea- fishermen, pearl divers and so on. Most of what’s here is small, most of which is transportable, most of the things here are utilitarian or semi precious.
One doesn’t find here in our excavations or in the collections of people from the area the legacy of important artifacts like you’d find in other parts of the world. But they are important to this culture, and they do tell a fascinating story of the diverse history of this country,” Mandle said. “What’s interesting about it is much of the history of Qatar is oral history. The National Museum of Qatar will help to create a magnet to collect
those stories and collect the history.”
Hopefully, such projects will help to enhance understanding of the history of this part of the world, where civilization started. The earliest books discovered were written in Sumeria, in what is now Iraq (The Epic of Gilgamesh is still available today, and reads like the archetype for most classic tales
to come after it). Islamic philosophers and scientists discovered many techniques and ideas that we’re still rediscovering today- in fact, many even claim that the Islamic world had a hand in preserving the Christian Bible during the Dark Ages when it would have otherwise been lost. That’s a legacy that’s not just fascinating, but could change how the global community views its historical hierarchy.
“It was a particularly rich literary culture. In fact one of the other aspects that I think the Museum of Islamic Art and the Qatar National Museum will portray is the extraordinary literacy and the richness of the culture of the past of these areas. Writing became part of (art), in substitute for the human form, on the sides of buildings, in mosques, on ceramics, it became a decorative element that was really important because it not only had its own decorative style and its own beauty, but it also meant something. You could read there, that word and it was often the word of God,” he said. “When the West was locked away in its sanctuaries during the middle ages particularly, the Islamic world was rich with learning, and scientific discovery and artistic creation and literary promise. It was an extraordinarily rich time here.”
And that’s a story Mandle says Qatar is in the perfect position to tell.
“As you can tell from the Museum of Islamic Art, anything Qatar sets out to do, it will do on a world stage with the highest quality. It will set standards.”
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