Al Hosn Festival 2021

I continued the weekend with another great outing Saturday night, visiting the Al Hosn Festival on the very last day of opening.
This cultural event has taken place over the past 10 days at the Qasr Al Hosn, the symbolic birthplace of Abu Dhabi; in and around the old fort, the House of Artisans and the Cultural Foundation.
Kathleen and I went in the evening, so all the lights were beautiful, and the site was buzzing with people there to celebrate the Golden Jubilee through participating in this event.

I love the area around Qasr Al Hosn, it's full of installations and artwork, and in the evenings everything look even more pretty than normal!

There was a series of commissioned art works on display by Emirati artists, which all put an innovative spin on the traditional handicrafts. Here a piece called A Prayer, by Maitha Hamdan:

And this one, which I really liked, by Jawaher Alkhayyal, an Emirati interior designer. This is supposed to be (enlarged) farookha - the tassels that the Emirati men fastens on their kandoora collars before leaving home. Usually they would be intricately knotted and then dipped in perfume. This tradition stems from when the men were gone long periods on their pearl diving trips, and these tassels would be a reminder for them of their loved ones waiting back home.

This below was a temporary installation, part of the Festival, an inflatable structure called Pyramid Hexagon, by French artist Cyril Lancelin. It looked really cool together with the sabkha (salt-desert sandflat) formations:

The Festival area was full of demonstrations of traditional craftsmanship and artisanal techniques, you could try your hand at making candles, creating your own perfume, making coral sculptures, weaving and many other things. Throughout the 10 days there has also been an abundance of different performances. Everything from cooking demonstrations to traditional dancing, poetry recitations, music performances and much, much more.

 

There was food stalls, stalls with different activities, and also retail stalls. There was also a bigger area built up as a traditional souk. How I wish it could be here all the time, for the tourists. We really lack a souk that is a bit more authentic here in Abu Dhabi!

Calligraphy workshop:

The area around the old fort is constructed like an imaginary sabkha - the parts of the desert which are salt-encrusted, which makes it look like the desert surface has cracked:

Inside the Qasr Al Hosn they had a beautiful exhibition called A Day in the Palace, which took us through a hypothetical day here about 60 years ago. It told the stories of some of the historic people of the fort, such as the Foreign Representative, the Watchful Guard and the Caring Doctor. I really loved this exhibition, as these stories are what makes the fort come alive!

Kathleen and I, with the Burj Mohammed in the background. That "lipstick building" as the kids call it, is the tallest skyscraper in Abu Dhabi at 381m.

Outside the fort, there was another fantastic exhibition, which I hope they will make permanent here after the Al Hosn Festival. It was called A Lens Through Time and showcased many different photos of the Qasr Al Hosn since the beginning of the 20th century onwards. Super interesting, and great visual aids when you do a tour here, to help explain the timeline and what has been going on here for the past 100+ years.

The thing that seemed to be the most popular amongst all the children at the Festival was this though - a huge sand dune that they were running up on and rolling down from! This sand apparently had been brought here especially for this event, from the Liwa desert!

It should almost be mandatory for every Abu Dhabi resident to visit this Festival at least once, to get a better understanding of the culture and heritage of the country we call our home. Such a fantastic event!