A citizen documents the Gulf’s maritime history with 10,000 artifacts he collected in 40 years
Citizen Fathi Al-Binali succeeded in turning his passion into The folk and maritime heritage of the Eastern Region and its transfer to future generations, coinciding with the objectives of the Year of Handicrafts 2025.
Al-Binali’s personal museum is located on an area of 550 square meters on the historic island of Darien, and was designed to be a living window overlooking the lives of fathers and grandfathers, as it includes five main sections that mimic the details of ancient social and economic life with utmost precision.
Al-Binali said that the museum’s sections vary to include The “Bride Room” with all its traditional belongings, and the “Nukhadha Majlis,” which embodies the position of the ship captain in ancient Gulf society, in addition to the “Shop” corner, which displays the goods and life supplies that society relied on at the time.
Maritime Heritage
He pointed out that Marine Heritage occupies the largest share of the museum’s collections, as it was keen to allocate the museum to sea, diving and fishing tools, as they are the main component of the cultural identity of the Eastern Region, including the display of rare models of ships and boats that have disappeared and no longer exist today.
He added that the sources of the collections were not limited to inside Saudi Arabia only, but the research journey extended to include the countries of the Arabian Gulf, based on the unity of culture, common destiny and the single heritage character that unites the inhabitants of the Gulf, Which made the museum a destination for visitors and researchers from inside and outside the region.
Al-Binali, through his continuous participation in national events, works to revive ancient handicrafts and introduce young people to the tools and professions that formed the backbone of life in the past, stressing that these efforts come in response to the national trend to consider the year 2025 as the year of handicrafts, to ensure the sustainability of this cultural heritage.
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