Monday column: Do we have to ruin our heritage for modern trappings?

Times of Oman

11-05-2025

Earlier this month, I walked into the backstreets of Muscat to enjoy the simple life there and this month I thought I should venture further and drive beyond the city to take a look, just out of curiosity.
From a short distance to the Batnah towns, I ventured deeper, beyond the urban areas. I parked my car from the nearest shopping area and braved the heat of the summer to see more. In the two hours I was there, I visited forts, aflaaj systems, narrow village roads and even farms. Not many of them are left.
Modern villas, new dual carriageways, bridges and shopping malls are competing with centuries old heritage. Let me correct myself, these modern trappings are actually threatening the existence of the Omani heritage.
Old houses have been demolished for new ones and farms have been erased to make way for the sites of shopping centers. The old souks are not there anymore. As a matter of fact, I was looking for an auction site that I visited ten years ago and it vanished. A block of flats has been built on its site.
I turned a few corners to look for the silver shops. Again, they were all gone. The silversmiths, who used to craft jewellery, such as rings, bracelets, armlets and earrings, are now ghosts from the past. Instead, I found a line of butchers, supermarkets, shoe shops, boutiques and coffee shops replacing the now gone silver shops.
I also was on the lookout for the Khanjar maker, that I visited years ago. His shop, right at the end, is now a building material shop. I looked back at the street and thought that if I had taken a photo of it at that time, then I would have evidence of what it was then.
Can we say what has replaced the vanishing heritage has no character? Yes, we can. It may be about progress, but at least some of these streets should have been preserved to reflect the old characters of typical Omani heritage.
Yes, we understand that, as the country's population is increasing, we need to modernize for greater mobility, new housing units and expansion of businesses to boost our economy. We also understand that employment is important and we must expand the economy to create jobs.
But we should have preserved some areas in the hearts of towns and cities to reflect the past and the rich culture and heritage that made this country great. Without it, the future generations will find nothing in their surrounding to reflect their heritage. As it stands now, our heritage would soon be just records in the history books.
One of the economic pillars of Oman is the development of tourism. When tourists come here, they look for the old settlements, artifacts, villages, buildings, traditions and relics. If we keep demolishing them then there will be none left. When that happens, fewer tourists would come here and that would drop our national revenues. Also, our hotels that have costs billions of rials, would be mostly vacant.