Guests speaking to the media in Sharjah.

Sohaila Ahmed, Staff Reporter

The Sharjah Institute for Heritage (SIH) unveiled details of compiling a “Glossary of Spots & Places in the Central Region of Sharjah,” at a press conference held on Sunday morning, at the SIH Offices in the University City. The event was attended by Dr. Rashid Al Mazroui, the primary researcher of the Glossary Dr. Minni Bunama, Director of Content and publishing at the SIH, officials of the SIH and media representatives.

“The Glossary of Places and spots in the Central Region of the Emirate of Sharjah” aims to document names of places in the Central Region, as essential knowledge for the present and coming generation to know and recognize names of places and spots their ancestors who lived there. Dr Abdulaziz Al Musallam, Chairman of the Sharjah Institute for Heritage, said: “This critical dictionary is part of our efforts to collect, preserve, maintain and transfer the non-material cultural heritage to the coming generation.

It is also part of our efforts to introduce the various sites, monuments and places in the Emirate of Sharjah and their old names, to preserve them in the memory of the citizens, residents and visitors. We are also promoting them on the agenda of tourist destinations worth visiting, especially for lovers of heritage, history and archaeology.

Al Musallam stressed that the work in this dictionary would take two years, and will comprise names in the central region of Sharjah, covering its four areas: Al Dhaid, Meleha, Al Madam and Bata’ih. The Institute will appoint a team to assist the Main Researcher Dr Rashid Al Mazroui, in the project, to complete the dictionary efficiently. The Glossary will then be issued and made available to the public, researchers and those who are interested.

On his part, Dr Rashid Al Mazroui said: “In recent years, many names of places and spots in the UAE have disappeared and vanished due to urbanization expansion, and the death of many of our elderly people who lived there. With their disappearance, names of these areas disappeared too for not being documented.”

He added, “The dictionary will include all the names of the spots and places in the targeted areas, such as cities, villages and small towns, as well as the names of water resources (Al-Tawi), mountains and valleys, plains, caves, rivers, desert and springs. It will also cover names of the natural landscape. Field visits to target places will document these names and their location, surrounding areas and its distance from the centre, the origin of the name, whether it is inhabited or not, who lives in it in the present and past.”