A RANGE of cultural events featuring art, music and Bahrain’s historical heritage has been lined up to mark National Day and Accession Day.
Organised by the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (Baca), the month-long celebrations open with an oud night at the Bahrain National Museum on Sunday.
It will star oud player Saad Mahmood Jawad who will be accompanied by all-female group Hunna, specialising solely in playing the short-neck lute-type, pear-shaped stringed instrument.
Entry to the event, which begins at 7pm, is free.
A photography pop-up exhibition honouring the women of Bahrain, coinciding with Bahraini Women’s Day celebrations, will be held at the Art Centre from Tuesday until December 10, from 8am to 8pm.
Selected artwork by Bahraini women artists from the collection of the Bahrain National Museum will also be displayed.
Entry is free.
On Tuesday, an exhibition will shed light on the strong cultural ties and exchanges between Bahrain and Poland.
‘The Treasures of Krakow’ will be held at the Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage, near the Cultural Hall, until December 31, from 9am to 4pm, Sunday to Thursday.
The expo recounts the tale of a city – the seat of Polish kings, former capital of the country, home to one of the oldest European universities, and magnet for poets, writers and
artists.
Admission to the exhibition is free.
The following day International Cultural Centre deputy director for programme policy Agata Wasowska-Pawlik will speak on ‘Culture and the City – The Case of Krakow’ at the Bahrain
National Museum at 6pm.
Entry is free.
The lecture will portray the different dimensions of cultural life in Krakow, while also examining the relations between cultural life and the city itself.
An Arabic storytelling session will stimulate children’s creativity at the Al Khalifiya Library, Muharraq on December 7.
‘My Nation ... My Story’ will tell a story about the nation followed by an interactive session where children will get to express their love and belonging to their nation by drawing paintings of different scenes of stories in which they present themselves as the heroes.
The free event, being held in co-operation with the We All Read society, begins at 10am.
An initiative that presents four murals in four different areas of Bahrain – Nabih Saleh, A’ali, Budaiya and Manama – will be held on December 7, 14 and 21.
Through these initiatives, the artists transfer their signature works from the traditional media to permanent locations, where residents and visitors can enjoy them.
On December 7, Zuhair Al Saeed will be in Nabih Saleh, with Faika AlHassan in Bab Al Bahrain and Jaffar Al Oraibi in A’ali Walkway on December 14 while Ali Hussain Merza will be in Budaiya Garden on December 21.
Entry to the events, which will run from noon until 4pm, is free.
Also on December 7 and 21, live Bahraini musical performances from the Fijri tradition will be held at Dar Al Muharraq.
The Dar Shabab Al Hidd Band will perform on December 7 while the Ismaeel Dawas Band will feature on December 21.
The events begin at 8pm and admission is free.
A perfume and fine jewellery launch will bring together two Bahraini designers Nouf Al Shekar and Zaina Khalid.
The Perla Perfume and Zaina Fine Jewellery Launch will be held at the Bahrain National Museum on December 12, at 11am.
Children aged eight to 12 can enjoy an archaeological excavation workshop on the same day at the museum.
The ‘Our Heritage on a Clay Pot’ workshop will also include clay pot decoration with decoupage of Bahrain’s archaeological sites.
The event begins at 4pm and registration is required at culture.gov.bh.
A Pearling Path Treasure Hunt will take place on December 14 at 9am.
Ten teams of three members each will try to find a hidden pearl through a series of clues and games which they will encounter along the path.
Registration is required at culture.gov.bh.
Musical concerts highlighting the rich tapestry of Bahraini folk music will be held at Dar Al Riffa Al Oda on December 14 and 28.
The free events begin at 8pm.
‘Manama Doesn’t Sleep’ commemorates the 31st anniversary of the Bahrain National Museum with events embracing the energy of the city and Bahrain as a whole.
The celebration will begin at 7pm on December 15 and end at 7am on December 16.
It will include a variety of events, including music and dance shows, literary talks, fine art exhibits and more.
A three-month-long exhibition will take visitors on a journey beneath the waves to meet the amazing creatures that inhabited the oceans 200 million years ago at a time when dinosaurs ruled the land.
‘Dive into the Jurassic’ opens at the Bahrain National Museum on December 15 at 2pm and brings together immersive CGI films with replica casts from the Natural History Museum’s unique marine fossil collections.
It will be open to the public from December 15 to March 16, 2020, from 10am to 8pm, every day, except Tuesdays.
A thrilling 12-hour-long celebration which includes music and dance shows, literary talks, fine art exhibits and more will be held on December 15 and 16.
The free event at the museum will go on from 7pm to 7am.
On Martyr’s Day (December 17), artist Hala Mohammed Al Khalifa will host a workshop for children inspired by jasmine flowers, a long-time symbol for hope.
It will be held at the Bahrain Pearling Trail in Muharraq, starting at 10am.
Arabic language and Artificial Intelligence will be the topic of a free lecture on December 18.
The annual celebration of World Arabic Language Day will take place at the Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage from 11am onwards.
On the same day an Arabic Calligraphy Workshop will celebrate the Arabic language and the achievements made by Arabic writers and linguists by incorporating visual art techniques.
The use of different mediums such as paper, wood, fabrics and paint will enable participants to add different textures and dimensions to traditional calligraphy.
The event at the Art Centre begins at 5pm and registration is required at culture.gov.bh.
‘Artist in a School’ exhibition will feature a number of talented students from four public schools in Bahrain at Studio 244, inside the Arad Bay protected area.
Four accomplished Bahraini artists – Dr Mayasa Al Suwaidi, Jamal Abdulrahim, Areej Rajab and Mahmood Al Shargawi – are behind the project.
The showcase is open to the public from December 22 to 31 from 4pm to 8pm and from Sunday to Thursday.
The classic Egyptian film, Among the Ruins, will be screened at the Bahrain Fort Museum on December 26 at 7pm as part of a Night of Arabic Classic Films.