Al Zubarah
Al Zubarah Archaeological Site is a partly excavated fortified town that flourished due to pearling and trade.
The town on the coast of the Persian Gulf was newly built by Kuwaiti merchants and developed as a small independent state that flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was mostly destroyed after an attack by the Sultan of Oman in 1811 and subsequently got covered by desert sands. The area contains remains of the town walls, port, cemeteries, courtyard houses and fort.
Community Perspective: the fort is tiny and the excavations at the archeological site are disappointing as they are mostly covered up again.
Map of Al Zubarah
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Rodinia
I've visited Al Zubarah twice. The first time was around 2009/2010 when I was living in Qatar for roughly a year. At that time it was not yet a WHS. Substantial parts of that town were uncovered then and it was really fascinating to see the layout and the different houses. When I returned to Qatar in around 2013/2014 I visited again and found that most of the town was covered up again and there were just a few buildings visible, plus a reconstruction. I can imagine that people are disappointed about this as there really is not a lot to see. On the other hand I can understand why this was done: the town is built from beach rock, just right there from the water edge: tower shells and sand grains cemented together by the high calcium content sea water. Just the few rain showers per year would be enough to dissolve the calcite cement and make the town crumble. My high rating is both based on how I experienced this site the first time, and based on the effort taken on preserving this site.
Having explored the desert of Qatar extensively I have to say that there are many archaeological sites, including prehistoric rock carvings (they were fenced off in 2013), potentially pre-islamic and pre-Christian graves all across the desert, burial mounts that looks similar to the Dilmun mounts in Bahrain (though in a very poor state), and lots of other things.
Michael Novins
On my most recent trip in June 2018, I rented a car and drove to Al Zubarah in northwestern Qatar to visit its fort and archaeological zone, the Persian Gulf nation’s only inscription on the list of World Heritage Sites. Most of the site, which flourished as a pearling center in the 18th and 19th centuries, is buried under hundreds of years of desert sand, so I didn’t spend too much time in the torrid afternoon exploring the little that has been excavated, instead spending most of my visit inside the fort, which offered a shaded respite.
Stanislaw Warwas
Visited June 2017.
To get to Al Zubarah Fort and the visitors center you can take bus 100 from Doha Al Ghanim bus station; the first one leaves at 9:30 am and it takes 2 hours to get there. There’s not any admission fee and all you can see is the fort itself, the small but informative exposition and the adjacent Qal’at Murair Archaeological site. One hour is enough to see all that and catch a return bus at 12:30.
If you want to see the remains of al Zubarah city at the seashore, you have to prearrange the visit for the next day at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha or at Tourist Information at the airport.
Do not expect anything spectacular!
Philipp Peterer
Qatar is not one of these countries that are full of highlights and in other countries Al Zubarah certainly would not count as a highlight. But in Qatar it’s the only WHS and I found the first sign on the highway 75! km from the site. It’s about an hour driving from Doha. The fort is tiny. I rather qualifies as a bigger house. It’s currently being renovated, but work is almost finished. The interior serves as visitor center with information regarding the site.
They also constructed a temporary exhibition close to the fort. I guess the plan to build a small museum there. The archeological site was closed for no reason. The only way to access it would be by car, as the territory is really big. But the pictures of the site showed me that I did not miss out on much. Despite the fort all was destroyed to the ground by the Sultan of Oman. Entrance is free.
Community Rating
- : Tamara Ratz Daniel Gabi Christoph George Evangelou Rodinia
- : SHIHE HUANG
- : Alessandro Votta Kurt Lauer
- : Thomas van der Walt Dorejd Tarquinio_Superbo Christravelblog
- : Peter Lööv Martina Rúčková Philipp Leu Hanming Stanislaw Warwas Dwight Zehuan Xiao
- : Zoë Sheng Junwang111 Philipp Peterer Rickard Alfredsson Alexander Parsons Riomussafer Ivan Rucek
- : Jeffrey Chai Ran
Site Info
- Full Name
- Al Zubarah Archaeological Site
- Unesco ID
- 1402
- Country
- Qatar
- Inscribed
- 2013
- Type
- Cultural
- Criteria
-
3 4 5
- Categories
- Archaeological site - Near Eastern
- Link
- By ID
Site History
2013 Inscribed
2012 Advisory Body overruled
ICOMOS asked for deferral, referral given
2012 Referred
Site Links
Unesco Website
Official Website
In the News
Connections
The site has 15 connections
Constructions
Damaged
Geography
History
Human Activity
Religion and Belief
Science and Technology
Timeline
Trivia
World Heritage Process
Visitors
74 Community Members have visited.