Sharjah: the Gateway to the Trucial States

Mallinson Architects were appointed in 2016 by the Emirate of Sharjah and ICCROM–ATHAR Regional Conservation Centre in Sharjah to research the site history and development, including site documentation, for the UNESCO World Heritage nomination file ‘Sharjah, the Gateway to the Trucial States’. The nomination file was submitted in 2017 to the UNESCO office in Paris.

‘Sharjah, the Gateway to Trucial States’ is a serial nomination consisting of eight sites in the Emirate of Sharjah. These sites collectively demonstrate Sharjah’s historical importance in establishing the conditions for safety in international trade along the Gulf, the region particularly important for its east-west cultural historical connections, through a series of treaties with the British (hence ‘the Trucial States’) in the 19th and 20th centuries. The principal qualities of the nomination are associated with events and ideas that led to the formation and development of the Trucial States, these States later to form the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The nomination sites range from two in the centre of the modern day city of Sharjah, including the souqs in the Heart of Sharjah development and the buildings of Al Mahatta Airport, one of the region's first airports, to remote villages, forts and settlements that tell the story of the region’s earliest settlers.