Al-Ahsa Oasis, an evolving cultural landscape protected by UNESCO
Baku, December 22, AZERTAC
Located in the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula, the Al-Ahsa Oasis is a serial property comprising gardens, canals, springs, wells and a drainage lake, as well as historical buildings, urban fabric and archaeological sites.
They represent traces of continued human settlement in the Gulf region from the Neolithic to the present, as can be seen from remaining historic fortresses, mosques, wells, canals and other water management systems.
With its 2.5 million date palms, it is the largest oasis in the world. Al-Ahsa is also a unique geocultural landscape and an exceptional example of human interaction with the environment.
The oasis landscape that evolved over millennia presents a way of life typical of the Gulf region of the Arabian Peninsula. This cultural landscape consists of gardens, canals, springs, wells, an agricultural drainage lake, as well as historic buildings.
Al-Ahsa Oasis is composed of twelve component parts forming the largest oasis in the world with more than 2.5 million palm trees, urban fabric and archaeological sites that represent the evolution of an ancient cultural tradition and the traces of sedentary human occupation in the Gulf region of the Arabian Peninsula from the Neolithic Period up to the present.
The landscape of Al-Ahsa in the past and now represents the different phases of the oasis’s evolution and the interaction of natural and cultural heritage.
The continuity of the oasis agricultural tradition is represented by an organically evolved cultural landscape with an agricultural organization based upon the distribution of the spring water through a network of open-air canals.
Al-Ahsa Oasis cultural landscape materializes the vivacity and modernity of this specific land-use tradition and shows its continuing relevance at the local and regional scale.
This large cultural landscape is composed of different zones covering the oasis’ gardens, mountains, caves, villages, mosques and springs, but also archaeological sites and a small section of the historic centre of Al-Hofuf with the main monuments embodying the political control over the area and its commercial role throughout the past centuries. The vestiges of the villages, fortresses, mosques, markets and houses, though often in a ruinous shape, preserve a complete catalogue of the architectural elements composing the urban settlement of Al-Ahsa from the early Islamic period to the Saudi Kingdom.
The oasis is an outstanding example of traditional human settlement developed in a desert environment exemplifying the intimate link between landscape, natural resources and the human efforts to settle the land. The rich water table close to the surface permitted the growth of a large oasis settlement. Water was originating from surface springs and drawn from wells reaching the shallow water table. Some of these springs and wells are still visible in the site, living memory of the traditional farming techniques.
Designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2018, the world’s largest oasis, Al-Ahsa, is the first UNESCO-listed city in the Gulf.
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