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Cultural Development

The Aga Khan Trust for Culture successfully completed the restoration of the Old Dispensary, now renamed the Stone Town Cultural Centre.The Trust has been active in Zanzibar since 1989, where it has been active in preserving and rehabilitating the Stone Town, a World Heritage Site. It successfully completed the restoration of the Old Dispensary, now renamed the Stone Town Cultural Centre, and the old Customs House, as well as the rehabilitation of Kelele Square. In all, eleven buildings - many of them on the point of collapse - were restored as part of a programme to show the building techniques needed to preserve this World Heritage Site. These buildings included homes and caravanserais; sixty families were re-housed in rehabilitated housing. The former Ex-Telcom building, deserted since the 1930s, was converted into a hotel in partnership with the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development. AKTC has also worked, with the Government and international partners such as the Government of Sweden and the Ford Foundation, to provide training workshops on conservation practice and traditional construction methods for craftsmen, building professionals and Government officers working in the Stone Town. Nearly 100 people were trained. AKTC also assisted the Stone Town Conservation and Development Authority in Zanzibar to draw out a strategic conservation plan.

For more information about the cultural revitalisation projects in Stone Town, please see Zanzibar Stone Town Projects.

The aim of the rehabilitation of Forodhani Park project is to upgrade social and recreational amenities in this historic park setting while providing for economic activity that will contribute to the sustainability of the Park.Revitalising Forodhani Park
The rehabilitation of Forodhani Park, which began in 2008, is part of a programme for comprehensive seafront rehabilitation in Stone Town. It is intended to be a logical extension of the work already completed in Kelele Square.

The Park was once the location of the Port and a landing point for the former Sultans of Zanzibar. Sixty years ago, the area was converted to a Park called “Jubilee Gardens”, which featured a wide range of trees and plants. Over the years, it became one of the most popular places on the island, functioning as a central meeting place for civic discourse, leisure and entertainment. In the last decade, the Park has shown the stresses of age and its growing popularity. Maintenance has suffered in the face of other pressing social priorities. Businesses have taken up residence in the Park, displacing some of the space traditionally left for leisure. In recent years, it has become clear to all parties that an important part of the patrimony of Stone Town was in need of revitalisation.

The aim of the rehabilitation project is to upgrade social and recreational amenities in this historic park setting while providing for economic activity that will contribute to the sustainability of the Park. Considering its value for the local community, its attraction for visitors to the island, and the interaction of the Park with the landmark buildings facing the sea, the Park is expected to be a catalyst for broader social, cultural and economic development in the area. The overall objective of this project, therefore, is to restore and secure the green space while improving the quality of civic life for Zanzibaris. Over the long-term, pending agreement, it is hoped that a larger seafront initiative, encompassing upgrades to the Historic Port Area, can be contemplated.

For more information, please see the brief entitled The Revitalisation of Forodhani Park in Zanzibar.

The Indian Ocean Maritime Museum
As part of long-standing revitalisation work in Zanzibar’s Stone Town, AKTC has restored several landmark buildings, one of which - the Old Dispensary - will house a museum dedicated to the Indian Ocean as a maritime space in which, since prehistory, the exchange of goods, ideas and myths took place between its diverse coastal civilisations.

The museum space will cover two floors of the building and include sections on various aspects of Indian Ocean geography, trade and culture, including the role of monsoons and ocean currents, the evolution of Arab navigation, and the travels of Ibn Battuta, Marco Polo, Ibn Majid, Zheng He, and others, from the Mediterranean, the Middle East and beyond. Other sections will recount the incursions and eventual domination of the ocean by European powers, the exploits of pirates and privateers and the importance of the great trade companies.

Historical spaces will highlight the transformation of Zanzibar as the propeller replaced the sail and cloves replaced the slave trade. Models of naval vessels, old navigation instruments and maps and other original artefacts that illustrate the history of the commercial and cultural contacts between Africa, the Middle East, the Indian sub-continent and the Far East will be featured. Indian Ocean ecology and the effects of human activity on local ecosystems will also be highlighted in interactive models and displays.

The ground floor of the Indian Ocean Maritime Museum will have educational and vocational training facilities, a cafeteria and shop, and an aquarium. The celebrated Sultan’s Barge, a nineteenth century vessel complete with canopy, oars and gilded decoration, will be a major attraction for visitors, following a full restoration undertaken by AKTC.