Arad Fort fence to be restored

TDT | Manama                                                  

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Muharraq Municipality has opened a tender for renovating the fence of Arad Fort - one of the beautifully historic fortresses in Bahrain.

The tender launched by the municipality is for renovating the walkway fence of the 15th-century fort.

Works include removing damaged fence panels and replacing them with new ones.

The tender also requires conducting repairs for panels that suffered only minor damages.

Contractors should supply and install two gates and paint the metal panels and concrete fence.

Several years back, the Bahraini government restored the fort to its original glory after conducting extensive research using traditional materials such as sea stones, lime, sand, and palm trunks.

The square-shaped fort, surrounded by a small trench for filling water, has on its corners a cylindrical tower.

Historians say the Bedouin dynasty known as the Jabrids built the fort to help fortify the island after they took control in the mid-1400s. They built the fort in the typical style of the Islamic forts during the 15th century before the Portuguese invasion of Bahrain.

Historians, however, believe that even though the fort stood guarding one of the strategic waterways, the facility didn’t live up to its purpose as the Portuguese invaded and seized the Kingdom in 1521, killing Jabrid’s ruler and controlling much of the island for nearly a century. Over the next few centuries, the fort became the scene of much fighting.

Most recently, between 1984 and 1987, under the direction of the Historic Buildings and Conservation Architect, Dr Archie Walls, Bahrain Government restored the facility to its former glory.

Restorers hadn’t used cement or any materials not in harmony with the historical building or its historical value.