Since my early years I always read and heard many stories about the Red Palace but never had the chance to actually visit it, all I knew was that it has red walls and that its located at Jahra, literally! So be ready for a historical adventure that will take you back in time to see what really it is, buckle up.
It took me sometime to locate it at south of Jahra and when I finally arrived I saw absolutely no one, I even thought that it was abandoned but thankfully the guard suddenly appeared of nowhere and this is when my amusing tour begun. Once the gate was opened, I saw a big courtyard with some scattered trees, a camel, and a well in the center, I noticed that they did a good job maintaining the palace.
Stories say that it was built by Sheikh Mubarak Al Sabah back in 1897 and was called red because it has red walls (Red mud used to build it), it became popular after the famous battle of Jahra in 1920 where it was used as a fort to defend the surrounding areas. Its total area is around 6,500 Sq. meter and there are 33 rooms or chambers and three wooden gates with holes for shooting, there were towers too.
Currently, the red palace is used as a historical museum, the first room had a title “Hunting” and inside I saw the tools and techniques old Kuwaitis used for hunting animals.
Hunting tools below.
Hunting technique:
Weapons room: In this room they display the weapons old Kuwaitis used in battles, there were rifles, daggers, canon, and swords.
An old fighter.
A Canon.
Al Sadu (weaving) room: The term “Sadu” is an old Kuwaiti word for “Weaving Process” which was an old craft in Kuwait, in here you can see what tools and materials they used in the past to make clothes and fabric.
من الاشياء التى استمتع بها اثناء حضوري لمعرض كويتي وافتخر بالامس هو العرض الموسيقي الرائع الذي قامت به فرقة التلفزيون التقليدية ولحسن حظي فقد قامت الفرقة بغناء اغنية “مفتون قلبي في هوى” التى احبها كثيرا منذ الصغر ولكن لم اكن اعرف او بالاصح افهم من كلماتها سوى “مفتون قلبي في الهوى غزلان يا عبيد مسكين طراد الهوى”.ا
ا
بحثت اكثر عن كاتب الكلمات وعن قصة الاغنية فوجدت انه الكلمات كانت للشاعر الراحل منصور الخرقاوي الذي ولد في عام 1925 م, وتقول الروايات ان لهذه القصيدة قصة يرويها الشاعر بأنه كان متواجد في محل صديق له وهو بائع اقمشه واسمه عبدالله المنصور فمرت عليهم امراه جميله فأعجب بها أشد الاعجاب و قال هذه القصيدة.ا
I attended the 3D mapping projection show that was organized in Kuwait for the first time ever on National Day at Regency Hotel, it was thrilling and highlighted many historical events about Kuwait.
The show continued for almost an hour so I had to edit it to include the important highlights. Enjoy!
I always wondered about how/why Kuwaiti flag changed from red color to the preesnt colors (black, white, green, and red)? I came across this interesting interview with Mr. Mohammed Jassem Al Sadah telling the story that took place during Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem tenure.
I paid a visit to the Muscle & Classic Car Show today at Shuweikh waterfront, it was really amusing seeing all those vintage and rare classic cars.
Over hundred sexy classic cars from Kuwait and other GCC countries were there, its amazing how the owners kept these cars in a premium condition.
Photo-shooters came from all over Kuwait to take some cool shots, there were judges to evaluate the cars to select winners.
Some of the Muscle cars icluded Corvette Stingray, Ford Mustang, Mercedes, GTO, Chevy, Pontiac, GT 500 Shelby, Firebird, and many others.
I loved the Shelby 500 GTO big time, its hot and full-of-testosterone, I can notice how they used high quality materials to make the cars unlike modern cars.
Thanks to Historical, Vintage & Classic Cars Museum for organizing such nice event, we need more events in Kuwait.
I saw that Municipality is now developing the Safat Square to include a a beautiful musical fountain that will organize daily public shows with cost of 4.5 Million Dinar, brilliant idea!
Safat Square is one of the most popular land marks in Kuwait, its located in the heart of Kuwait City and it represents a point where all old Kuwait areas (Qibla, Mirqab, Salhiya, Watya, and Sharq) meet.
It was a square where old tramps used to rest at, also it was a Souk (Marketplace) and an official place for making various festivals plus Police used it for public executions.
As for the name, Safat means a big wide and smooth rock in Arabic, maybe it was called Safat due to a geographical cause though I’m not sure.
I found this picture below for Safat Square back in 1950′s.
Also this is very old photo for Safat Square with tramps and camels.
Today while organizing my antiques I found that I still got games on floppy disks stored from the early 90′s, I’m sure you are all familiar with them. I had over 1000′s of them, can you imagine that a single DVD has more storage capacity than all those floppy disks.
أحب كثيرا الاماكن السياحية التاريخية والتراثية في الكويت لأنها تمثل نافذة للماضي, ومن ابرز هذه الاماكن بالطبع المركز الامريكاني الثقافي الذي سيتم افتتاحه في يناير 2012 في منطقة قبلة.ا
ما افرحني هو الجهد الكبير لدار الآثار الاسلامية بتجديد مبنى المستشفى الامريكاني وترميمه وتحويله الى مركز ثقافي عالمي وتاريخي واعطائه اسم المركز الامريكاني الثقافي.ا
يتكون المركز من مسرح كبير ورائع يروي قصة المركز (عرض بالفيديوا والصوت) ويستضيف العديد من الفنانين بالاضافة الى مساحات وقاعات للمعارض والانشطة المختلفة ومخزن لحفظ الاثار الثمينة, كذلك ورشة للانشطة ومكتبة تحتوي على العديد من الكتب التاريخية.ا
سينضم المركز الامريكاني الثقافي العديد من الانشطة والفعاليات الرائعة التى من اهمها معرض “ذخيرة الدنيا” الشهير والذي يضم العديد من اروع واغلى المجوهرات والكنوز في العالم والتابعة لحضارة “مغل” الهندية الاسطورية.ا
اقيم معرض ذخيرة الدنيا في العديد من البلدين حول العالم منذ سنة 2001 من ضمنها اوروبا والولايات المتحدة وآسيا والان في الكويت.ا
خلال تواجدي في مجمع 360 لاحظت وجود معرض بمناسبة الاحتفالية ال49 بصدور الدستور الكويتي في وسط المجمع بالقرب من الكافيهات.ا
المعرض من تنظيم الامانة العامة لمجلس الامة بالتعاون مع النادي العلمي الكويتي ويستمر ليومين. كانت هناك العديد من الصور الرائعة لمبنى مجلس الامة والتي التقطها فريق متخصص من النادي العلمي.ا
وكانت هناك ايضا صور نادرة لامراء الكويت ولشخصيات كويتية سياسية, بالاضافة لمجموعة رائعة من الكتب التاريخية والتعليمية لمجلس الامة والمسيرة الدمقراطية في الكويت.ا
فعلا المعرض رائع وزيارته ضرورية لكل مواطن, وكل الشكر للمنظمين على الهدايا والشرح الوافي.ا
Since my early years I always read and heard many stories about the Red Palace but never had the chance to actually visit it, all I knew was that it has red walls and that its located at Jahra, literally! So be ready for a historical adventure that will take you back in time to see what really it is, buckle up.
It took me sometime to locate it at south of Jahra and when I finally arrived I saw absolutely no one, I even thought that it was abandoned but thankfully the guard suddenly appeared of nowhere and this is when my amusing tour begun. Once the gate was opened, I saw a big courtyard with some scattered trees, a camel, and a well in the center, I noticed that they did a good job maintaining the palace.
Stories say that it was built by Sheikh Mubarak Al Sabah back in 1897 and was called red because it has red walls (Red mud used to build it), it became popular after the famous battle of Jahra in 1920 where it was used as a fort to defend the surrounding areas. Its total area is around 6,500 Sq. meter and there are 33 rooms or chambers and three wooden gates with holes for shooting, there were towers too.
Currently, the red palace is used as a historical museum, the first room had a title “Hunting” and inside I saw the tools and techniques old Kuwaitis used for hunting animals.
Hunting tools below.
Hunting technique:
Weapons room: In this room they display the weapons old Kuwaitis used in battles, there were rifles, daggers, canon, and swords.
An old fighter.
A Canon.
Al Sadu (weaving) room: The term “Sadu” is an old Kuwaiti word for “Weaving Process” which was an old craft in Kuwait, in here you can see what tools and materials they used in the past to make clothes and fabric.
