Course Name: Heritage and Archaeology Management - Al Rifai Houses

This case study delves into the heritage management of the historic Al Rifai Houses located in the Farasan Islands of Saudi Arabia. The study begins with an introduction to the importance of heritage management in the tourism sector, particularly in Saudi Arabia, which is rich in cultural heritage. It provides background on the Al Rifai houses, their historical significance, and the current state of conservation efforts. The research aims to develop a theoretical framework for conserving the cultural heritage of the Farasan Islands. The study addresses specific research questions regarding the conservation methods, regulatory measures, and potential benefits of investing in the preservation of the Al Rifai houses. The literature review covers existing research on heritage conservation, UNESCO's involvement, and the challenges faced by such sites. The methodology chapter outlines the research approach, including data collection methods and analysis techniques. The study proposes recommendations for the conservation and sustainable management of the Al Rifai Houses, emphasizing the need for government and private sector collaboration, community engagement, and educational programs to ensure the preservation of this important cultural heritage asset.

Course Name
Course Code
Heritage and archaeology management -A case study of historic Al Rifai houses in Farasan
islands in Saudi Arabia
First Name
Last Name
Name of the institution

Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Background of the study.............................................................................................................................4
Research objective......................................................................................................................................5
Research questions......................................................................................................................................6
Literature review.........................................................................................................................................7
Research methodology................................................................................................................................9
Research strategy........................................................................................................................................9
Research approach......................................................................................................................................9
Collection of the primary data...................................................................................................................10
Secondary data collection.........................................................................................................................11
Data collection methods............................................................................................................................11
Data analysis..............................................................................................................................................12
Recommendations of the research............................................................................................................12
Reference and sources of information......................................................................................................13
Appendices................................................................................................................................................15
Introduction
The management of the natural heritage and conservation of historical and archaeological sites is
always regarded as most imperative in every country’s tourism sector (Job, 2017) This has been
done in many areas irrespective of whether they hold any marks of national heritage or not. This
means that rather than being a marked archaeological sites or places possessing marks of national
heritage developments have been taking place like expansion of infrastructure which has been

leading to archaeological items being destroyed to date. In countries like Europe, there was a
regulation that was reached at with the objective of protecting and preserving the Europe
heritage. This means that Europe was able to set a procedure to be followed in all matters that
involved its archaeological sites and the entire natural heritage. In Saudi Arabia kingdom,
tourism is on the fore front in getting foreign exchange through historical sites. The country of
Saudi Arabia has been in communication with European countries like France to help it maintain
and put in good standard some archaeological sites like the ancient tombs at Khuraiba at the
North West town of Al – Ula. These are some of the archaeological sites that need maintenance
to be a source of foreign income from tourism (Throsby,2016).The cultural heritage in the
kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been the main source of income in tourism sector due to high
influx of tourists all over the world. In management of these wonderful sites and sources of
income, there needs to be enough distribution and allocation of resources to enable maintenance
of high standards and also help in processing of tourism visas to boost the tourism sector. It’s
always important to remember that every human being needs to know all the past activities that
were done by the ancient people and this can only be seen through the conservation of all sites
that show manifestation of activities of ancient man.
Background of the study
The country of Saudi Arabia is regarded as one of the countries that are rich in the cultural
heritage in terms of archaeological sites. History is evident in most of the regions like in the
Farasan Islands where Al Rifai houses are found. The Farasan Island in the kingdom of Saudi
Arabia has many archaeological sites. The islands contain many cultural heritages from military
houses that date back to the Ottoman rule in 1901.there is also a presence of a German house that
was also built in 1901 where coal that was used as a form of fuel to crossing the red sea was

stored. The other imperative attraction item in the islands ids the continuous activity of the
residents surrounding the island search of pearl in the deep waters. This old activity completely
left some fingerprints that are considered as cultural heritage as the buildings they used to live in
still exixt to date but in dilapidated state. These include the Al rifai houses and masjid of najdi.
This includes the houses of Al Rifai.The Al rifai houses are categorized as a cultural heritage site
as they are seen from the start that they were in a construction state. This is in other words
referred as the German house that was owned by Abdullah Ibrahim. These are not only
considered as the natural and cultural heritage but even as the main source of foreign exchange to
the country. In order to continue the getting the benefits of these houses, the governments needs
to come up with combined efforts together with the private sector for preserving them as Saudi
Arabia most preferred cultural heritage assets which will not only be a benefit to the government
due to tourism but also will act as a source of income to the people that will be involved in the
entire process of renovation of the houses. These renovations and revitalization of the houses
will lead to good development of the region surrounding the houses due to economic perspective
(Nomura, 2018).
The figure below shows some of the Al Rifai houses entrances that needs renovation.

At the look of the above house, its evident some of the damages may have been caused by
extreme weather conditions like wind. The reason for developing this study is for analysis of the
conservation measures that need to be activated by the government of Saudi Arabia. The
researcher chooses the systematic perspective because some of the theories relating to the topic
of the study are normally based on the beliefs that the countries in question do not put their
emphasis on the conservation of archaeological sites.
Aforementioned, the government of Saudi Arabia has seen the importance of preserving and
managing these sites as they have attracted the attention even at international and national levels.
This has been in deliberation on which methodology would be the best in the management of
these sites considering their authenticity and value they add to the tourism sector. This research
aims at the development of new methods for sustainable management and conservation of the
natural heritage (Zeayter, 2018).Internationally, the management and preservation of cultural
heritage has been on emphasis as it’s through this coordination that conservation objectives are
achieved.
Research objective
The main objective of this research work is to come up with a theoretical framework and validate
the same for conserving the cultural heritage at Farasan Islands. This objective shall be achieved
through the below aims;

 To implement the measures and guiding principles of the World heritage convention and
also the world best cultural houses conservation
 To ensure the local people and private entities become engaged in the heritage
conservation
 To foster and promote the World heritage education programs to the locals surrounding
the Farasan Islands
 To understand the current process that is used by Saudi Arabia government in
conservation of archaeological sites most specifically the Al Rifai houses in Farasan
Islands.
 To ensure that the methods used in cultural heritage conservation are included in the
curriculum to enlighten the young people of the importance of cultural heritage
maintenance.
 To develop an academic networking where cultural heritage conservation measures are
discussed and viable solutions are analyzed and implemented.
Research questions
The central question of this research work is; what are some of the key measures that are
required to be taken by Saudi Arabia government to conserve and keep the Al Rifai houses in
good condition and continuously be a tourist attraction centre and be recognized in the world
heritage list
 What are the regulation methods that are supposed to be implemented to conserve the
houses?
 Apart from the Al Rifai houses, what else does the area around Farasan Island possess?

 What is the value that will be realized as a result of investment in conservation of the
houses?
 Do the houses meet the criteria required for the tourist attraction?
 At what extent do Al Rifai houses meet the integrity and authenticity threshold as
measured by the world heritage list?
Literature review
The main objective of this literature review is to provide the initial studies that were carried out
by other researchers in regard to heritage conservation and management. It also stresses on the
key measures that are supposed to be taken by the Saudi Arabia government to maintain the
listing of the houses of Al Rifai in the world heritage list (Alhammadi, 2018.The literature
review also focuses on the involvement of UNESCO in cultural heritage.
Looking at the world today, there are so many cultural heritages that have been left unattended
and no safeguarding measures have been in the process (Holtorf, 2018). This means that these
precious heritage sites are prone to the risk of being destroyed permanently and lose their value
to the country and the main beneficiaries. The houses of Al Rifai in Farasan Island appear to be
in dilapidated condition as can be seen in the picture below and this is making them to almost
lose their value.

Looking at the different ways of preserving and conserving these precious heritages of Saudi
Arabia, education plays a very crucial and vital role in the preservation of the cultural heritage. If
the young generation is educated and informed through awareness that there are several
repercussions of failing to safeguard and being good ambassadors of the natural heritage then the
future generations will only study of the heritage but will not have any tangible thing they can
see (Gopalakrishnan, 2016). On the contrary, if the young generation is enlightened on the
benefit of safeguarding the natural heritage through participation and deliberation of the best
ideas of conservation, then the future generation will have a reason to continuously conserve the
heritage and will be a benefit to them. A country needs to preserve the heritage in order to be
recognized by the UNESCO and may even be nominated (Labadi, 2017). It’s evident that Saudi
Arabia doesn’t have a strict measures and legislative policies that regulate and stress on the
preservation and conservation of the natural heritage This means that Al Rifai houses has been
left spoiled and almost losing its value internationally. Many research has been conducted over
eighteen years ago and their conclusions has been that there is an urgent need that needs to be
done at the Farasan Island to ensure that the houses remain in good condition. Saudi Arabia
government needs to come up with the best conservation ways to be able to be nominated by the
World UNESCO and this may be to its advantage of getting more support from other private
organizations (Mahdy, 2019).The cultural heritages all over the world has some threats that
needs to be controlled and addressed by the government in question together with experts from
all over the world. This is because coming up with permanent ways to control threats like wind
that may destroy the houses comes along way from involvement of the locals in planting of trees
and conservation of the surroundings to keep the area calm as possible (Campanaro, 2016).
These are some of the negative factors that affect the development of these cultural sites (Benur,

2015). The other major reasons that delay development of these cultural centers is the lack of
good and reliable infrastructure to the sites. From the sources that were perused during the
research work, a number of articles has been put forward to conserve the cultural heritage in
Saudi Arabia Farasan islands where the government has come up with measures to regulate all
the buildings that are constructed in the surrounding as this alone acts as a source of income to
the residents (ALI, 2018). These regulatory measures will not only create a record for the future
generations to come but will also act as a source of reference to the future researchers.
Research methodology
This chapter discusses on the type of the methodology that the researcher used to bring together
all the data and philosophy, approach and technique and the analysis that was used in this study.
After the visit to the Al Rifai houses,I noted it was important to come up with conservation and
restoration measures to maintain the houses in good condition. This is because; some of these
houses are very sensitive to the environment. The below factors needs to be consider in
conservation of Al Rifai houses;
The surroundings of these houses need to be controlled. The houses needs to be painted by water
color so that they can be shielded from the rays of the sun and restore the pigments.
The way that is important to be followed in the journey of conserving Al RIfai houses is
implementation of an education program to the conservators of Al Rifai houses so that they can
reduce the rate of deterioration of the houses. This will involve interventive and non interventive
methods. These interventive methods of conservation will be carried out for the purposes of
structure integrity, intangible continuity et cetera.

The sites where the houses are located should be a protected area with a controlled entrance and
exit. This means that administrative measures should be taken up for the security of the houses.
Ethical standards also need to be accomplished to the conservators. This will be done through
documentation of each and every treatment that is done on the structures. The other thing that is
supposed to be document is any alterations on the houses to bring a difference from the original
structure.
The restoration and repairs can be done and passed to the person responsible to them. This means
if an intruder trespassed and destroyed anything, she should be responsible for the repair at their
expense.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia should be working on the repairs through encouragement of the
members of public and private entities.
Research strategy
This strategy is used when the researcher is involved in the empirical investigation and analysis
of different phenomena in real context through perusal of different sources of information as a
proof. These sources may include the (Thornhill, lewis, 2009).
Management and protection of the cultural heritage especially on the tangible sites is very
imperative when it comes to international bodies like the UNESCO. This is because, before they
include a site as an archeological centre, the site must be in good and well maintained condition
to meet their specifications. This means that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia needs to have enough
manpower to conserve the Al Rifai houses. One step that the government needs to take is to have

a well documented strategy that its using in the conservation of the sites and this can be
presented to the UNESCO cultural World heritage listing. Through such listing by UNESCO, the
kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be well assured that the heritage will be conserved even by the
future generations to come.
The government needs to develop a building and construction ordinance to safeguard the Al rifai
houses. Aforementioned, there needs to be a lot of support on hand on activities in the
preservation of these structures from the general public. The other control and conservation that
the government should be working on is to ensure that the areas surrounding the structures are
well equipped with all essential services like electricity, water et cetera. These are some of the
services that will make the area attractive and appealing to the locals and the tourists who come
to visit Al Rifai houses. The other area that needs to be improved is the accessibility to the
Farasan Islands. This calls for improved road network for ease of access by tourists.
The enactment of new rules should be also crucial in the conservation of these historical
monuments. These rules will strengthen the measures that will be used in the preservation of
cultural heritage.
Research approach
The research approach that was continuously used in the entire research work is deductive.
Internationally, the stones damage and deterioration of structures is common. But what matters is
the way they are maintained to preserve their value. The problems related to the extreme weather
conditions are normally the causes of deterioration of these houses. Some of the causes I
identified affecting the al rifai houses are as below;

 Insufficient conservation and maintenance
 There were in appropriate restoration measures taking place.
Factors leading to deterioration of Al Rifai houses
The area of Farasan islands experiences extreme weather conditions like high temperatures and
moisture. These factors alongside others like earthquake accelerate the stones used in the
building of these houses causes decay and cracks in the building.
The other factor that has contributed to the houses being in bad condition is the natural factors
like the evaporation of the water. The area being near the Mediterranean Sea experience a lot of
salty water and evaporation that affects the structures
The other factor that was seen to be causing damage to the houses is wind. These houses after the
construction, they were affected by the changes in temperatures that brought a lot od
deterioration of the structures.
This means that the researcher developed hypotheses in regard to some of the existing theories
relating to the subject (Privitera, 2018). When a researcher specifies a theory that is related to the
topic of the research proposal, then a hypothesis is developed regarding what would really occur.
The qualitative method falls into this deductive approach as its features mostly gives a good
framework that is used in testing of the research hypothesis. However, it’s good to note that there
is no restriction of not using the qualitative data in deductive research approach. Looking at the
qualitative data approach, it can be used well in the operation of deductive approach after
collection of a data that can be used to examine where the theory is supported.

The historical houses need to be maintained well in a proper upkeep that should be done through
the repairing of falling structures. This conservation may involve the chemical preservation
measures employed. The other way that is important in maintaining and conserving the cultural
heritage is conservation the pristine look of the Al Rifai houses is through reinforcement of the
structures wearing out as a result of pollution or even chemicals over the years. The area should
also be protected from people scribbling the walls of these structures.
Most of the damages o these houses were caused by weather conditions like wind, floods,
earthquakes et cetera. Aforementioned, it’s important to come up with a risk management plan
that can be used in protection of these houses. Through the formulation of the risk management
plan, the conservation control measures can be done on the basis of prioritization on what affects
the structures most in that order. For example, they can use the easements that can in good
control of the effects of erosion and flooding. The other form of damage that is caused is through
vandalism. This can be controlled through tight security of the areas. Vandalism can also be
controlled through education to the public on the importance of the cultural heritage.
Collection of the primary data
This is also referred to as the first hand data that is collected by the researcher (Bell, 2018).The
researcher came up with the choice of using the interviews to get his first hand data from the
respondents because those were the people that were involved in the daily operation and
overseeing the sites. During the collection of the data, the researcher realized that the community
needs participation especially in the maintenance of surroundings cleanliness.
There were several issues that were discovered during the collection of the data that contributed
to the deterioration of the structures. This has been explained below;

Inadequate and reliable financing from the government, the neglect of these structures was as a
result of the funds to be invested to them not being released continuously by the government. It
was therefore concluded that the government especially the ministry of tourism must come up
with alternative methods to have the conservation costs funded. This could be boosted by the
UNESCO listing upon reaching their threshold.
There is no common will and clarity among people. Some of the people surrounding the
structures didn’t recognize the importance of conservation of cultural heritage thus making a
section of the population remain adamant and less interested in the conservation.
The other issue that was facing the houses is related to poor governance and management. The
poor governance has contributed to the less participation by the general public in the
conservation.
The government needs to set up some specific goals. This means that the government needs to
know what the conservation will entail, is it restoration and maintaining the houses only or there
may be some services like tourism. These specific goals will lead the government to identifying
key stakeholders that will actively participate in the restoration of the houses. Their roles and
duties will be well spelt out.
It was also realized that the government needs to come up with a large labor force consisting of
qualified and well trained conservators and archaeologists who can be in time after the other
conduct conservation inspections and advise on the best solutions. These were also the people
that were actively involved in the decision making process regarding the tourism sector in Saudi
Arabia. These semi structure questions gives the responded an opportunity to air their
independent views in the best terms possible.

 A two way and one on one interview is achieved successfully
 This type of interview provides a confirmation of what is known and also gives the
researcher an opportunity to understand more on the topic.
There were also some demerits that were discovered during the research work of the primary
data which include the below;
 Time consuming due to delayed appointments for one on one communication.
 It was difficult to confirm if what the respondents were saying they were honest as
they may have been feared revealing that the government has neglected the cultural
sites due to uncontrolled corruption.
 There was bias on the part of participants and this led to influenced answers that
could not be depended upon (Caretta, 2015).
Data collection methods
For the analysis of the research data, it’s important that the researcher notes the difference
between the qualitative and quantitative data so that the analysis can be meaningful
(Castleberry, 2018) In this research work, qualitative data was used as it gave the researcher
an opportunity to use semi structured questions/interview.
In this research work, a total of ten interviews were conducted. Although the researcher
aimed at a high number of interviewees, it’s only a few that were available for interview.
When the researcher commenced the interviews he got all the answers he needed although
some could not be verified. The interviews were recorded in a digital platform for future
references. The interviews were conducted in a span of fifteen minutes for each respondent.
Although some of the respondents took only fifteen minutes in the interview process, others

took long because their knowledge on the topic was minimal. This was due to the answers
that the researcher wanted to get took long before the respondents could give the feedback.
All the interviews conducted by the researcher were based on the same outline but somehow
some of them deviated according to the different answers that were given by the respondents
based from their knowledge on the topic. The other factor that was considered during the
interviews is that all the respondents were not forced to appear for the interview but were
called on a voluntary basis so that that integrity of the data could be achieved. The
respondents also gave the right to the researcher to record all their discussions during the
interview process.
Data analysis
After the research work, I was able to come up with the measures that can be used as restoration
and conservation measures towards the houses as below;
Consolidation of the stones used in the construction of the houses to enhance the strength of the
structures. This should be done on several occasions since the area is a desert.
The cracks that may have been caused by earthquakes should be filled to boost the strength of
the structures.
Routine conservation and maintenance measures should be carried out to keep the buildings safe
from deterioration.
The study of all stones used in the construction of the houses should be studied so that
restoration items and stones can be determined accordingly.

During the data collection, there were some gaps created by some obstacles that were
experienced during the data collection (Kornbluh, 2015).This is because the researcher could not
be able to control all the responses from respondednts.
Recommendations of the research
This research work came up with the theoretical framework that can be used for conservation of
the cultural heritage in Saudi Arabia famous Farasan Islands and measures that can be used all
over the world. The researcher proposes that the study can be conducted in a totally different set
up like the application of this concept to other international developing countries with precious
archaeological sites. The researcher also suggests that other future works can be conducted on
developed countries like Europe to find out what they do different in their cultural heritage
conservation.
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