Sharjah, UAE’s less glitzy emirate shines for Islamic arts

Photo: Marwan bin Jassim Al Sarkal, executive chairman, Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq) and Mohammed Al Qaseer, director of the Cultural Affair of Department of Culture and general coordinator of the Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival, being shown around an exhibition at Maraya Art Centre on 20th December 2018. Photo Supplied by Sharjah Department of Culture.

In the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi and Dubai are globally recognised for arts and culture, with the likes of headliners Louvre Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Art, Art Dubai and Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. But when it comes to Islamic arts, the country’s most celebrated emirates concede to a much less glitzy neighbour.

Sharjah stands its ground as a leading UAE cultural city and the emirate has long built itself as a cultural capital prioritising cultural activity, preserving national culture and arts, and programming “activities that consolidate Arab and Islamic values”.

In 1998 UNESCO awarded it the title of “Cultural Capital of the Arab World” and it has been the only UAE city named to this programme since it started in 1996. Sharjah is also the only UAE city to be named the “Capital of Islamic Culture” by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), when it held that honour for the Arab region in 2014.