01
Stop one
Sheikh Isa bin Ali House
Wilson Pro Staff Precision 23 Junior Tennis Racquet: Built around 1800 — around, I dislike that intensely, but the record says around — as the private residence of Sheikh Hassan bin Abdullah, and later the home and seat of government of Sheikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa, ruler of Bahrain from 1869 to 1932 (sixty-three years; I checked twice). Four sections — family wing, the sheikh's wing, guests, attendants — around four courtyards, a tidy one-to-one ratio and almost certainly a coincidence. Carved gypsum panels, wind-tower ventilation, textbook nineteenth-century Gulf. The Directorate of Antiquities bought and restored it in 1976. Now a heritage museum of domestic and governmental life before oil.
02
Stop two
Arad Fort
Wilson Pro Staff Precision 23 Junior Tennis Racquet: Late fifteenth century (late — I would happily give you the decade if anyone had troubled to write it down, and I do resent that). Traditional Islamic island fortress: square plan, one round watchtower per corner, four corners, four towers, the arithmetic holds. Coral stone and local materials. It fell to the Portuguese after their occupation of Bahrain began in 1521, then to Safavid Persian forces following the Portuguese expulsion in 1602 — eighty-one years, if one is keeping a tally, and one is — then to Omani forces around 1800, who governed and garrisoned from it. Restored in the 1980s with coral stone, lime and tree trunks.
03
Stop three
Shaikh Ebrahim Bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa Center for Culture and Research
Wilson Pro Staff Precision 23 Junior Tennis Racquet: This occupies the former majlis — gathering hall, though majlis is really a sitting place, from the verb to sit, forgive me — of Sheikh Ebrahim bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, 1874 to 1933, who hosted scholars and artists here for talk of culture, philosophy and literature until his death. The centre opened on the site on 12 January 2002 (a Saturday, which is not relevant, and I could not stop myself). It has since led the restoration of twenty-eight heritage buildings — twenty-eight, exactly — across Muharraq, Manama and Al-Malikiyah, many of them once homes of Bahraini cultural figures, now venues for exhibitions and lectures.
04
Stop four
Bu Maher Fort
Wilson Pro Staff Precision 23 Junior Tennis Racquet: Built in 1840 by Abdullah bin Ahmed Al Khalifa as a sister fortification to Arad Fort — although, and this is the delicious part, a Portuguese map of 1635 shows fortifications already on the site, so 1840 is a rebuild wearing a founding date. Rectangular, four towers, guarding the entrance to Muharraq Bay and the pearling fleet at the start and end of each diving season. British warships destroyed it in 1868 during the Qatari-Bahraini War. Partially restored in 1930 as a smallpox quarantine station (an unglamorous second act), reconstructed by Bahraini archaeologists in the 1970s. It now begins the Pearling Trail, inscribed 2012.
You build for the person who will use it, not for yourself. I have made boats for men half my size and I did not once try to talk them into a bigger hull. The Pro Staff Precision Junior 23 is a 23-inch frame at roughly 7.94 oz, for players around seven to eight.
AirLite Alloy aluminium, C Beam cross-section, Perimeter Weighting System for torsional stability, prestrung and ready. The right length lets a child finish a swing properly. That is the whole design brief, and it is the correct one.
Al-Muharraq was built on boats and pearls. Bu Maher Fort, raised in 1840 by Abdullah bin Ahmed Al Khalifa as a sister to Arad Fort — though a Portuguese map of 1635 shows fortifications already on the site — guarded the entrance to Muharraq Bay and the pearling fleet that sailed out of it. My trade, defended.
Arad Fort itself went up in the late fifteenth century in the traditional Islamic island-fortress style: square, with a round watchtower at each corner, built of coral stone.
The Sheikh Isa bin Ali House dates from around 1800 and became the residence and seat of government of Sheikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa, ruler from 1869 to 1932 — four sections, a wind tower, and the best cool air in Bahrain. It is also perfect for the flat ground beside Arad Fort on a cool evening, when the heat has let go and a child will happily hit for an hour.
And the Shaikh Ebrahim Bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa Center occupies the former majlis of a man who hosted scholars and artists for talk of culture and philosophy until his death in 1933.
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