02 April 2006
Dubai: They celebrate more than a millennium of knowledge from the Islamic world in the fields of astronomy, medicine, optics, horology and aviation.A total of 30 exhibits are to open on Sunday as a permanent exhibition at the Ibn Battuta Mall shopping complex to mark this extraordinary achievement.
The exhibits, created for property developer Nakheel by South African firm Marketing Themed Environments (MTE), include intricate designs of ancient inventions from the Islamic world. Many of them, such as the animal-driven irrigation system, have moving electric-driven parts.
The exhibits are set to be inaugurated on Sunday by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
But Gulf News and a few privileged visitors to the mall were allowed exclusive access behind the scenes a day earlier.
Abdullah Ali, 40, an Emirati businessman from Fujairah, said: "The mall and the history behind it is something new to me, although as a grade schooler I learned about the contributions of our science pioneers. It's a good treat to my children to be here."
"Dubai seems like a glass-and-metal anomaly rising between the edge of the desert and the sea," says Predrag Tonchew, 25, a UK-educated computer programmer.
The exhibits include the "flying machine" of Abbas Bin Firnas, who worked on a hill in 9th century Cordoba, Andalusia (present-day Spain) and set out to test the first flying machine in recorded history.
A Dh30 DVD cartoon produced in Dubai about Ibn Battuta's travels will also be made available at Sunday's launch.
By Jay B. Hilotin
Gulf News 2006. All rights reserved.
