‘We will not allow heritage buildings to be removed in Mubarakiya’
KUWAIT CITY, March 6: A member of the Heritage and Antiquities Preservation Committee in the Municipal Council, Maha Al-Baghli, spoke of a tendency by the Council to transfer the Mubarakiya project to the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL) to ensure the preservation of these heritage buildings to prevent their exploitation or being demolished so that “we do not lose this beautiful and ancient past of Kuwait’s history.”
This came during a fact-finding committee’s inspection of the sanitation and preservation contracts of historical sites in the Municipal Council, Mubarakiya Market, with the participation of members from the NCCAL and the Kuwait Municipality.
Al-Baghli went on to say: “We have seen some violations and encroachments on the new buildings that were constructed in the Mubarakiya area.” She said efforts are being made to remove the old archaeological buildings, and we will study this issue through the committee in communication and cooperation with the NCCAL, stressing, “We will not allow the removal of old buildings (most of which are over a hundred years old) to make place for new buildings some of which are now newly-constructed.”
Al-Baghli explained one of the most prominent violations is the existence of a new building, and the distance between it and an old heritage building that is over a hundred years old is less than half a meter, adding that this is unacceptable and we do not know how a permit was given for this building, but we will not allow the antique buildings to be removed. We will cooperate with the National Council for Culture, Arts and Literature to preserve heritage buildings in all Al-Mubarakiya area.
For his part, the head of the factfinding committee in the Municipal Council, Engr Abdul Salam AlRandi, said: The aim of this visit was to follow up the general cleanliness of the Mubarakiya market, and to identify historical places, and whether there are violations on them to preserve the architectural identity of the market and finding a mechanism as it is a cultural, scientific, commercial and social center, and it is dear to the hearts of the people of Kuwait.
Secretary-General of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Literature Kamel Al-Abd Al-Jalil stressed on the importance of maintaining, restoring and rehabilitating the shops selling “dates” and other markets, and the various shops and heritage buildings in the Mubarakiya markets area - markets that carry the scent of the original past, and the consolidation of the Kuwaiti identity through the years, saying the NCCAL has 75 stores in the Mubarakiya market, distributed between the date market and the other markets, in addition to the shops that offer popular meals, the well-known Kuwaiti clothes and some supplies associated with the old Kuwaiti markets and have been revived again.