With the sudden boom in architecture after the discovery of oil in the Arabian Gulf, different trends and styles started to pour into the region, leading to a lack of coherence and identity. While many of the buildings constructed in recent years are attractive, inventive and imposing, they are also strikingly ‘western’ in style and appearance. Very few of them make reference to native traditions. While projects such as mosques may borrow ideas from the past, this inspiration is not necessarily native to the Gulf, but rather is taken from neighbouring countries. In this lecture art historian Tarek Swelim will trace how this situation came about and how the Gulf States seek to establish and communicate a national identity and character through contemporary architecture.

About Barakat Trust
The Barakat Trust is an international non-political, non-religious, non-sectarian and independent charity based in the United Kingdom. The Barakat Trust

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