Second Phase of Documenting Endangered Maldivian Cultural Heritage Sites to Begin Soon

Maldives has a richer culture and more heritage sites of utmost significance than we give it credit for. In the past, tangible cultural heritage in the Maldives – including mosques, cemeteries, Buddhist temple ruins, and other historical structures and physical objects, have been jeopardized without proper knowledge of its importance in piecing the story of a nation together.

Maldives Heritage Survey initiated in April 2018 is one of the most important projects by the Ministry of Arts, Culture & Heritage in collaboration with Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. The pilot project led by Dr Michael Feener is funded by Arcadia Charitable Trust Fund.

From April 2018 until 2020, the project went to 152 islands across six atolls and surveyed over 288 sites with 1,154 structures, 15,000 small objects documented, in addition to digitizing 410 manuscripts in Dhivehi and Arabic. The work is exhibited to the public with an easy-access online platform.

The materials documented through this work are critically endangered, facing both natural and human threats that jeopardize the survival and accessibility of historical information for this vital node in pre-modern global economic and religious networks at the cross-roads of an interconnected Indian Ocean world.

After a successful pilot phase, Minister for Arts, Culture & Heritage, Yumna Maumoon and Director of Centre for Southeast Asian Studies at the Kyoto University, Yoko Hayami signed an understanding for collaboration in December 2020 to continue on to a second phase of the project. Yesterday, Minister Yumna virtually discussed the work in progress for the initiation of this project in February 2021 with Dr Michael Feener who is in lead.

Named the Maritime Asia Heritage Survey, this extension of the project aims to complete a full survey of the archipelago within a timeline of 5 years. During the discussion, challenges to the execution of the survey due to travel restriction in accordance to COVID-19 were highlighted and it is expected to bring about changes to the plan.

Further information on the survey can be found on the website.

Photos: Maldives Heritage Survey