After the overwhelming success of the #MyDubai online initiative, a new app and website to share memories of old Dubai are being planned to connect people to the traditions, culture and heritage of the emirate and create a virtual museum of early years of Dubai.

If the #MyDubai initiative helped people to share images and videos of their experiences in today's Dubai of high-rises and high life, the upcoming mobile app and supporting website will feature the everlasting memories of Dubai's distant past. They will include stories that remain fresh in the memories of senior citizens who were the children of those days and the old images available with their families.

The compilation of all these will eventually help build a virtual museum of stories and images about Dubai in earlier days, said Shatha Al Mulla, an architect with the Architectural Heritage Department of the Dubai Municipality.

The department is planning to come up with the website and app by the end of this year, she told Khaleej Times on Sunday after a seminar on Investment in Heritage held to mark the World Heritage Day that was on Saturday.

"This is a new way of cultural investment…the investment of people in heritage, promoting their involvement to keep our traditions alive,” said Al Mulla who proposed the project.

To kick off the initiative, she said, a team will be formed with the help of officials at the National Archives in Abu Dhabi. "The team will choose a group of senior citizens who can recall a lot of old stories and memories. We will record their interviews and document it online.”

Others will be invited to share their experiences after the launch.

With the online tools, the department is also looking to attract the younger generation.

When you talk about old Dubai, Al Mulla said, memories of even the 1980s — before the exponential growth and massive changes that changed the emirate's

position in the world map — can be shared.

"Even the children of late 1980s can actively take part with their memories and other youngsters can help their parents and grandparents to record and share their experiences.”

Director of the Department Rashad Bukhash said the municipality had spent about Dh250 million over the past 25 years to develop the heritage sites.

He said the recently announced project to revamp the area, that is slated to be implemented in three years, will attract more investment and visitors.
Source: Khaleej Times