Saudi Arabia tears down historical buildings

[ray245]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 36968.html

The authorities in Saudi Arabia have begun dismantling some of the oldest sections of Islam’s most important mosque as part of a highly controversial multi-billion pound expansion.

Photographs obtained by The Independent reveal how workers with drills and mechanical diggers have started demolishing some Ottoman and Abbasid sections on the eastern side of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca.

The building, which is also known as the Grand Mosque, is the holiest site in Islam because it contains the Kaaba – the point to which all Muslims face when praying. The columns are the last remaining sections of the mosque which date back more than a few hundred years and form the inner perimeter on the outskirts of the white marble floor surrounding the Kaaba.

The new photos, taken over the last few weeks, have caused alarm among archaeologists and come as Prince Charles – a long-term supporter of preserving architectural heritage – flew into Saudi Arabia yesterday for a visit with the Duchess of Cornwall. The timing of his tour has been criticised by human rights campaigners after the Saudis shot seven men in public earlier this week despite major concerns about their trial and the fact that some of the men were juveniles at the time of their alleged crimes.

Many of the Ottoman and Abbasid columns in Mecca were inscribed with intricate Arabic calligraphy marking the names of the Prophet Muhammad’s companions and key moments in his life. One column which is believed to have been ripped down is supposed to mark the spot where Muslims believe Muhammad began his heavenly journey on a winged horse, which took him to Jerusalem and heaven in a single night.

To accommodate the ever increasing number of pilgrims heading to the twin holy cities of Mecca and Medina each year the Saudi authorities have embarked upon a massive expansion project. Billions of pounds have been poured in to increase the capacity of the Masjid al-Haram and the Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina which marks where Muhammad is buried. King Abdullah has put the prominent Wahabi cleric and imam of the Grand Mosque, Abdul Rahman al-Sudais, in charge of the expansion while the Saudi Binladin Group – one of the country’s largest firms – has won the construction contract.

While there is little disagreement over the need to expand, critics have accused the Saudi regime of wantonly disregarding the archaeological, historical and cultural heritage of Islam’s two holiest cities. In the last decade Mecca has been transformed from a dusty desert pilgrimage town into a gleaming metropolis of skyscrapers that tower over the Masjid al-Haram and are filled with a myriad of shopping malls, luxury apartments and five star hotels.

But such a transformation has come at a cost. The Washington-based Gulf Institute estimates that 95 per cent of Mecca's millennium-old buildings have been demolished in the past two decades alone. Dozens of key historical sites dating back to the birth of Islam have already been lost and there is a scramble among archaeologists and academics to try and encourage the authorities to preserve what little remains.

Many senior Wahabis are vehemently against the preservation of historical Islamic sites that are linked to the prophet because they believe it encourages shirq – the sin of idol worshipping.

But Dr Irfan al-Alawi, executive director of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation which obtained the new photographs from inside the Grand Mosque, says the removal of the Ottoman and Abbasid columns will leave future generations of Muslims ignorant of their significance.

“It matters because many of these columns signified certain areas of the mosque where the Prophet sat and prayed,” he said. “The historical record is being deleted. A new Muslim would never have a clue because there’s nothing marking these locations now. There are ways you could expand Mecca and Medina while protecting the historical heritage of the mosque itself and the surrounding sites.”

There are signs that King Abdullah has listened to concerns about the historical destruction of Mecca and Medina. Last October The Independent revealed how new plans for the masjid an-Nabawi in Medina would result in the destruction of three of the world’s oldest mosques on the west hand side of the main complex. However new plans approved by King Abdullah last week appear to show a change of heart with the bulk of the expansion now slated to take place to the north of the Masjid an-Nabawi.

However key sites are still at risk. The Independent has obtained a presentation used by the Saudis to illustrate how the expansion of Mecca’s main mosque will look. In one of the slides it is clear that the Bayt al-Mawlid, an area which is believed to be the house where Muhammad was born in, will have to be removed unless plans change.

The Independent asked the Saudi Embassy in London a number of questions about the expansion plans and why more was not being done to preserve key historical sites. They replied: “Thank you for calling, but no comment.”

[Crossroads Inc.]

God does this piss off the Architect Curmudgeon in me...
I mean it is hard enought to stop morons here in the States from bulldozing historical buildings from just a hundred years ago or so, nothing like going ahead and burning your history from close to a Thousand years ago!

I wonder how the Islamic world will take this news? Note, that is a serious question, not meant as eye rolling sarcasm, I am genuinely curious to see if this will engender outrage.

[Simon_Jester]

Mixed opinions, I think.

Wahhabism, as noted, is a really hardcore fundie version of Sunni Islam, which takes an attitude toward history that borders on deliberate ignorance. Saudi Arabia has been in symbiosis with the Wahhabis for about 300 years (literally, the original Wahhab guy was a close ally of the Saudi family that far back). But there are a lot of non-Wahhabi Muslims who have a stake in this. As in, all of them.

I agree, Crossroads, it's an interesting question.

[fgalkin]

This is "news" how? This has been going on for almost three decades now.

Did all of you somehow miss this?


Currently the second tallest building in the world and the largest by floorspace. They bulldozed a fucking MOUNTAIN along with an ancient fortress on top to build it.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[CJvR]

Barbaric!

[Tribun]

Imagine someone trying to build something like that in the neighborhood of Vatican city.

Looking at the picture I can't shake off the feeling as if that's turning into a religious Disneyland.

[Zaune]

That is the most depressing photograph I've seen in years.

[CaptHawkeye]

Say hello to another grotesque totalitarian dictatorship generously supported by the demanding lifestyles of First Worlders?

[Irbis]

Did all of you somehow miss this?

Yes, I must admit I never heard of this

This is as barbaric as Mussolini demolishing renaissance palaces in Rome to make his alleys, except on if anything even larger scale.

On a side note, that thing greatly resembles Soviet 'palace' buildings, just with moon, not red star, on top. The irony...

[Darth Lucifer]

Seeing that picture makes me want to play SimCity. I'll even bet that someone created a mod for it, I know ppl have done other famous buildings. Now I can play Allah on my computer...

[xthetenth]

Imagine someone trying to build something like that in the neighborhood of Vatican city.

Looking at the picture I can't shake off the feeling as if that's turning into a religious Disneyland.

It looks more like Las Vegas.

[Thanas]

Looks like something out of a video game.

[General Mung Beans]

For extra irony, the building's was constructed by the Bin Laden Group.

[Simon_Jester]

More like it's irony that one of the bin Ladens likes to knock down skyscrapers. The bin Ladens have been the House of Saud's go-to guys for construction since some time in the 1920s or '30s, that's how they got all that money in the first place.

[CaptHawkeye]

Looks like something out of a video game.

I was actually just now thinking of how much it looks like Barad-Dur. I mean with the way the half moon is positioned at the top of the tower and everything.

[AniThyng]

Seeing that picture makes me want to play SimCity. I'll even bet that someone created a mod for it, I know ppl have done other famous buildings. Now I can play Allah on my computer...

I feel like playing Simcity everytime I glance out at the skyline during my commute. And then I realize with horror that simcity style traffic moddling must be behind the crazed zoning logic - more traffic = more customers therefore skyscrapers in areas with already high congestion.

Also, yeah. Development. One day I went back to my old high school and looked out over the field and realized suddenly there's all these skyscrapers that just popped up where there used to be none. The funny thing is I regularly go to those places...but since I look at it from the ground level I never 'noticed' the skyline had radically changed.

Anyway, I find it amusing that now it's non-muslims recoiling with horror at muslims destroying their own cultural heritage

[Knife]

Meh, in another 500 years, that monstrosity will be classical and people will bitch when they want to tear it down.

[Guardsman Bass]

It's amazing what you can buy with a shit-ton of oil money and almost no accountability to the people at the local level who might be annoyed at their buildings being replaced by a giant clock-tower.

[Grandmaster Jogurt]

I feel as if I'm the only one who likes how the Abraj Al-Bait complex looks. It's tragic how it was placed over a historic site with no regard for history or geography and I wish it'd been put elsewhere or not built at all, but I feel the building design is one of the better looking giant towers built in the past half century.

[Thanas]

It looks as if somebody has taken Big ben and the Schauseite of the Roman Imperial Palace, enlarged it 200x and mashed it together.

[Scrib]

You would think that they'd at least want to mark some of the significant locations if they have to tear them down?

[weemadando]

I don't think you understand Wahhabism.

[tim31]

This is "news" how? This has been going on for almost three decades now.

Did all of you somehow miss this?

I was aware of it, but I'd never seen a pic from that angle. It looks cartoonishly out of proportion... I agree with the sentiments above, like a videogame backdrop.

EDIT: sure that pic's a model? It doesn't look right at all.

[mr friendly guy]

I find the building shape looks nice. Its just that its size is out of proportion with the surrounding buildings.

[Dr. Trainwreck]

More like it's irony that one of the bin Ladens likes to knock down skyscrapers. The bin Ladens have been the House of Saud's go-to guys for construction since some time in the 1920s or '30s, that's how they got all that money in the first place.

Osama was an engineer himself, and when Robert Fisk interviewed him in the late 90s he was in the Sudan building shit with his old war pals. So you can say that he knew exactly what it took for a skyscraper to collapse and how it would look like, making him smarter than all Truthers put together.