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Will sarooj come back into use in Oman?

By Viju James

Sarooj as a building material was much in use long before cement factories began to grind Portland stone and pozzolona dust.

At the Muscat Festival in January this year (2003), two senior Omani citizens were busy showcasing skills that were their very own and not known to many others. They were demonstrating the manufacture of sarooj, the material used in Oman for centuries to plaster the external surfaces of buildings, and also as mortar.

The qualities of sarooj are too numerous to narrate but in today's environment, the feature that appeals most about them is the fact that sarooj is an absolutely environment friendly building material — neither Portland nor Pozzolona can ever hope to get the green grading that is unique to sarooj. Sarooj as a building material was much in use long before cement factories began to grind Portland stone and pozzolona dust. Buildings that were treated with sarooj had both elegance and sustaining properties. It was a robust material ideally suited to the harsh heat and desert winds of the region. As modern building materials crept into the market, the tradition of making sarooj was pushed out of sight. It became a difficult job; there were few takers for the village made clinker and gradually it was not viable for anyone to indulge in the luxury of making sarooj. When the programme for restoration of the ancient monuments was taken up in Oman sarooj came back into prominence.

No modern product could assure the desired finish and colour for a centuries-old castle, or fort. In the eighties, the Ministry of National Heritage set up facilities for the manufacture of sarooj with a two-fold purpose — to keep the tradition alive and to ensure that sarooj, the traditional building material was available for use in the restoration of all the forts. The late Guiseppe Biancifiori who was involved in the restoration of several castles and mosques in Oman says "the setting up of the production of this material was of great importance for the proper execution of the restoration projects, and it was necessary to rediscover, by consulting with older citizens of the area, the exact process by which it was prepared".

He adds that this was done by organising and running building workshops and also encouraging private production of sarooj. The production of sarooj required an understanding of basic chemistry and a degree of expertise. The raw material was the clay earth taken from date palm plantation usually in the vicinity of the construction. There were differences of opinion on whether the earth needed to soak and ferment. There were also differences of opinion on whether the soil used should be taken from a wadi bed that has been refreshed with floodwater, or from the nearest date plantation. There was complete agreement on the requirement that the soil had to be salt free. In the case of restoration work, it was essential to take soil from the immediate neighbourhood in order to obtain a texture, colour and finish that matched the original building. In a lecture on the subject given before he died, Biancifiori mentioned that making sarooj is quite a procedure but one which everyone enjoys — almost like children making mud pies. The mud is patted into flat cakes and put in the sun to dry.

The dry pies are then stacked, separated by wadi pebbles on a large pyre of date palm trunks.This pebble and palm structure is covered with earth to form an airtight seal and firewood is lit beneath it. The firing process lasts for about a week. When the fire has died down, the whole heap is left to cool. The external covering of earth is removed and all that remains including the ash is ground to a powder. The burnt clay is red on the outside, white inside. This powder is mixed with water and becomes sarooj. Sarooj has different hues in different parts of Oman depending on the earth that has gone into the initial mix. At the height of the restoration projects experiments were done to see if cement could also be slipped into the sarooj at the point of making it into powder. It was found that the addition of cement led to cracks in the final rendering and when used between bricks as a mortar. The cracks that emerged also did little for the fine finish that was required for forts and castles that were originally built using the same material.

Will sarooj come back into use in Oman? Will the global wave of moving towards ecologically friendly building materials do something to resurrect the manufacture and use of sarooj? Or will it remain a spectator activity at annual festivals that strive to keep and share ancient traditions? Biancifiori tells us that chemically sarooj is similar to hydraulic cement. In fact he says that classic hydraulic cement is not very different from sarooj. Just like in cement production the high temperature firing serves to form silicates which are the most important compound of the hardening reaction. Even in sarooj the presence of silicates is the determining factor in the success of the process especially for the plasters. This was confirmed in tests in Oman when sarooj making was revived for the purposes of restoration.

There are countries like Switzerland that has moved towards ecologically acceptable systems of cement manufacture that reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide. A report on the move to alternate systems of manufacture says "In the beginning of the use of alternative fuels, the public and the customer were concerned about the product quality. Due to an open information it was possible to convince the broad public that the use of alternative materials does not harm the cement quality and is environmentally sound." Will something like this happen for sarooj or will the two senior citizens have to wait for the festival season to show their skills in producing an ecologically sound product? The two senior citizens enjoyed their time at the Muscat festival. But their cup would surely overflow if they could continue to make sarooj all year round. And while doing this pass on their skills to the next generation.

Oman Observer 31st August 2003