DUBAI, 4 August 2004 — A historic tower dating back more than 100 years could be lost unless it is restored soon, a newspaper reported yesterday.
Despite being only six meters high, a vast amount of local folklore surrounds the Nakheel Tower, located on municipality land near the Preventive Medicine Center in Ras Al-Khaimah. Since its partial collapse, only two walls remain standing.
“When a historic tower or fort is lost, it can never be made up as a sizeable portion of the emirate’s history will have been lost as well,” Khalifa Asado, an Emirati resident in Al-Nakheel, told the Gulf News.
“We are determined to see the Nakheel Tower rebuilt and will take it all the way to the highest authorities to get it renovated and maintained,” he said.
Frequent demands have been made for the tower’s reconstruction since it collapsed several months ago, but residents feel their calls have been ignored.
The tower is the area’s oldest structure — it is thought to have been used as an observation post and was a pivotal fortification in battles when the emirate’s founding fathers defended their land.
“This is one of the most important structures in the emirate,” Asado said. “Elderly people have passed on stories to their children and grandchildren explaining the tower’s prominent historical role.”
Estimates of the tower’s age are largely based on these stories, but it could be much older.
“UAE nationals believe the tower was used in the past for watching and monitoring the movements of enemies and that it has played a central role in battles that the nationals fought to win their independence.
“This tower and all the other national ruins should be handled more seriously and provided with the necessary renovation work as soon as possible. I am surprised that the authorities have not taken the necessary measures to protect the tower so far. It is a strange attitude toward our heritage and it needs to be explained.”
After two sides of the tower collapsed, people first tried to steal the fallen rocks as mementos, but the authorities acted to prevent the building remnants from being taken away by sealing off the area. It is now inaccessible to the public.
The tower was the second historical structure to suffer damage in the last two years following the total collapse of the Al-Muaireed Fort.
The Ras Al-Khaimah emirate has about 60 forts and towers and most of them are in good shape.
