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By Conrad Prabhu

MUSCAT - No less than five different national institutions are currently involved in the task of researching, documenting and preserving the Sultanate’s vibrant historical and cultural heritage, according to officials of the Ministry of National Heritage and Culture.

Pioneering work conducted by organisations like the Oman Centre of Traditional Music, the House of Omani Heritage, and the Traditional Medicine Clinic, not only attests to the wealth and diversity of the country’s heritage, but is also helping draw international attention to this rich legacy, note officials.

The Oman Centre of Traditional Music, for example, has researched and studied more than 80 per cent of the Sultanate’s extensive repertoire of musical traditions.

To document this valuable heritage, it has created a comprehensive reference resource which includes a large number of sound recordings, over 23,000 photographs and 580 audiovisual media.

According to officials, the approach to documenting these musical traditions has been broad-based taking into account the fact that traditional music has been part of the traditional lifestyle in Oman, encompassing fishing, agriculture, healing and other such aspects.
More than 130 different types of traditional music have been identified so far, which can be classified into four main traditional expressions of Omani song. They are sea shanties and fishing songs, celebration songs, Bedouin traditional music and traditional mountain music.

Likewise, the House of Omani Heritage, which is an organ of the ministry, is responsible for implementing the National Heritage Protection Law.

A key function of this body is to market products of traditional Omani craftsmen and artisans, including pottery, weaving, metalwork, woodcarving and basket weaving.

These products, after being purchased from the craftsmen, are certified, exhibited and offered for sale at subsidised prices at the House of Omani Heritage.

Thus, the ministry not only helps Omani artisans market their products, but also promotes the conservation of the Omani heritage on which these products are based, officials point out.

With the aim of encouraging craftsmen to develop their skills, the government provides facilities for traditional craft industries.
Factories located in Bahla and Samayil produce traditional handicrafts which are offered to tourists and local buyers. Training centres have also been established at Sur, Bahla and Samayil.

In fact, all the various entities tasked with preserving Oman’s cultural wealth operate under the purview of the National Heritage Protection Law. Enacted by Royal Decree in 1980, the law covers not only monuments and antiquities, but cultural property chattels as well.

Cultural property assets include archaeological fossils, rare archetypes of fauna and flora, fragments of manuscripts, ancient books, documents and printed matter of special historical, artistic, scientific or literary value, as well as furniture items in traditional styles, painted earthenware, musical instruments, jewellery, precious stones and weapons.

In promulgating this law, the Sultanate also became a party to the Unesco Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.

Conserving the country’s heritage in the field of traditional medicine is the responsibility of the Traditional Medicine Clinic. Established by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos in 1988, it employs six traditional healers from different regions of the Sultanate to provide cost-free medical treatment with plant remedies. Each healer closely guards his particular expertise.

But the dominant player in Oman’s heritage protection effort is the Ministry of National Heritage and Culture itself.

Among its many functions is the task of preserving Oman’s vast collection of archaeological and historical treasures, consisting of more than 5,000 forts, castles and other monuments. These represent the magnificence of Omani art and architecture.

Renovation work on a number of forts and castles is under way under a comprehensive plan launched by the ministry to restore the grandeur of these monuments, using the same materials originally used for their construction.

A number of attractions have now secured a place in the World Heritage List, including Bahla Fort, which is being renovated under the direction of a special committee.

One of the ministry’s many notable achievements in the field of heritage protection concerns the restoration of manuscripts.

Experts have been working with Sultan Qaboos University in cataloguing, documenting and authenticating manuscripts that come into the ministry’s possession from time to time.

An estimated 4,400 manuscripts, garnered from countries as far afield as India, the United States, Holland and Portugal, have been collected so far.

Oman Observer 25th August 2001