Architecture of Kuwait
Kuwaiti architecture is a style of architecture unique to Kuwait, a country founded in the early 18th century. Before the discovery of oil, Kuwait has an economy reliant on maritime trade, shipbuilding, caravan trade and the pearl industry. The economy improved by the discovery of oil, enabling more economic growth.
History
Kuwait's traditional
Later, during the 18th century, a typical Kuwait merchant house was built in the Ottoman style that reached the city from Basra. Ottoman features included projecting wooden balconies enclosed with wooden screens or mashrabiya and covered wooden doorways which sometimes included European motifs. The extreme heat of the city made wind catchers and ventilation a necessity for most houses. Thus, some houses installed wind catchers.[1] Lewis Pelly, a Political Resident, described Kuwait in the 1860s as:
A clean, active town, with a broad and open main bazaar, and numerous solid stone dwelling houses stretching along this strand and containing some 20,000 inhabitants, attracting Arab and Persian merchants from all quarters by the equity of its rule and by the freedom of its trade.[2]
Within the city, there were a number of mosques, most of which have been rebuilt several times. The oldest mosques in Kuwait are the Alkhamis Mosque, built between 1772 and 1773, and the Abd AlRazzag Mosque built in 1797. Before the 9th century, minarets were rare, consisting of small square towers covered with small roof canopies.
In 1952, the British planning firm of Minorprio, Spenceley and MacFarlane were hired to design the first master plan of Kuwait. The plan was based loosely on Ebenezer Howard's Garden City and the firms experience with New Towns.
Modern architecture in Kuwait is mostly in the
Gallery
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Kuwait cityskyline
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Al-Hashemi-II Marine Museum in Kuwait City
See also
References
- ISSN 2075-5309.
- ISSN 1478-615X.
- ^ "Water Towers - AKDN". the.akdn. Retrieved 2023-01-25.