Mr. Mohamed THARIQ
Minister of State, Ministry of Arts, Culture and Heritage, Maldives

Ladies and Gentlemen.

Good Afternoon.

There is no written history of the Maldives before its conversion to Islam in 1153 AD, however the cultural heritage bear evidence that this country has a long rich history. In earlier days the cultural heritage we consider today were given respect and love and they were held with pride. The peoples' livelihood and belief were strongly associated with the cultural heritage elements. Consequently, with the gain of more knowledge people started to realize that some of the customs and belief associated with the cultural heritage were religiously contradicting. Moreover, the evolving life style started to move away from the typical island life resulting to discontinue some of the most distinguish livelihood works which is considered as Cultural Heritage today such as site, monuments, historic buildings and so on.

Although these heritage sites are the most reliable asset to conserve and research the Maldivian history and culture, these sites are being threatened by the vast development that is ongoing in the country for the past century. The country's old fabric is being peeled off due to lack of awareness towards these sites. Until recently we did not have a strong legislative framework to protect and conserve these sites. Due to this, the issue exaggerated even more. Reserving space for the cultural heritage assets in a land scarce country such as the Maldives is a challenge unless these heritage assets are seen as a potential economic market. Especially building Museums and Galleries in each island is costly and also challenging with the limited available land and resources in the islands. Currently the government has begun revitalization of the abandon historic buildings in these islands to function as museum and galleries. The selected buildings to use for this purpose have unique architectural features that represent building technique of a distinctive era. Moreover, in the past these abandon buildings were used for different social functions and gatherings so the island community has hold strong association with these buildings. Revitalizing will help to continue the social value of these buildings and this approach has given opportunity to narrate the unique untold stories of the island which distinguish them from the rest. Therefore, these projects will bridge the foreign gap between the people and cultural heritage and also this will help to convince the community of the economic benefits from cultural heritage.

The pilot project began in revitalizing an old building known as Kinbidhoo Maaloodh haruge in one of the southern islands known as Th. Kinbidhoo. This Building believed to be more than 100 years old and has segmental arches and columns which are architectural features that are not usually seen in traditional Maldivian Architecture. Originally this building was built to be used to carry out religious or solemn ceremonies. Especially when grand religious ceremonies took place in this building representatives from the atolls came in to participate. Until recently these religious ceremonies were conducted in this building. Later on, this building was also used as a school/education center until 1986. After that this building was left without a purpose to deteriorate until 2020 conservation and restoration work of the building began to repurpose the building to be used as a Museum and Gallery. It is planned to have galleries combining conventional exhibition displays, media rooms with digital displays of the historical background of the island, objects and artifacts related to the history of the island. We believe that this project can help to promote cultural heritage through education to increase the engagement of youth in the cultural heritage sector. And also, this building to be functioning as a museum and gallery will contribute to the local economic development through job creation and revenue generation related to the visitor economy. It will also have visible economic implications through cultural tourism. Similar such repurposing of historic buildings at different island has begun which we believe can help to spread more awareness about cultural heritage. We anticipate more of such museums/galleries to be established at different locations of the Maldives and we hope that a systemic framework of heritage preservation to be established. It is also anticipated that this will contribute to the safeguard of cultural heritage, in a context of local sustainable development.

Thank you.

Wassalaam Alaikum Warahmathullahi Wabarakaathuh