1937: the images below show the maqam dedicated to Al Khidr that once stood on Failaka. I have collected quotes about the shrine on this post. The first image below comes from Voice of the Oud and is dated to 1937. The second comes from Kuwait by the First Photographers and is credited to Freya Stark in ’37. The last comes from Stark’s own work Baghdad Sketches
1937: here are other photos from Stark’s work Baghdad Sketches. She writes, “the best house belongs to Yusuf al-Mutawwaa, who comes here with his children and grandchildren for the good months of spring. One of the gentlest of old men, he lives on a respectable income made years ago by the selling of slaves from Mekka, to which he now–out of regard for modern convention–refers to as a trade in dates.” (200) She continues, “the old man, gowned in a wine-coloured brocade, sat like a Titian Doge against a background of sea in which porpoises were playing. He wore dark glasses and a red kaffiah with black fillet on his head. His aquiline profile, grey-bearded was courteously bent toward D.G. and another friend beside him, a Kuwaiti skipper with trim grey beard and thin and gentle face. The two old men, talking earnestly, clicked their amber rosaries in absent-minded, long-fingered delicate hands” (201)
1959: the first image below comes from Failaka Island in the Postcards by Hasan Ashkanani. He writes, “this is a photograph of the lower part of the column in situ… uncovered in an excavation trench in 1959 by George Kunwald.” The second photo from the work Failaka/Ikaros: The Hellenistic Settlements Volume 3. The Sacred Enclosure
1960: from the work Glob and the Garden of Eden, captioned “street scene in the village of Zor, 1960” and “fish trap made of palm-leaf midribs on Failaka’s coast, 1960”
1960/1: Photographs of Al-Zor village taken by Jehan or Tareq Rajab (seen in Failaka Island, Voice of the Oud or Glimpses of Kuwait)
1960: from the work Glob and the Garden of Eden, captioned “Thorkild Hansen during the excavation of a Greek column capital” and “Glob in front of the Hellenistic temple on the island of Failaka”
1960: from the work Failaka/Ikaros: The Hellenistic Settlements Volume 3. The Sacred Enclosure
1960: from the book The Danish Archaeological Expedition to Kuwait 1958 – 1963, captioned: “Excavation of the Greek temple in Tell F5. Thorkild Hansen with a pick and pipe, Kristian Jeppesen lighting his cigar.” “Elsebeth Sandar sorting pottery sherds.” “Tareq Rajab participated in the excavations on Failaka in 1960-63 and organized the archaeological museum at the site which opened in 1964.” “
1960: from Tareq Rajab’s work Glimpses of Kuwait, in which it is captioned, “the Ikaros Stone was a dedication stone found near the portico of the Temple of Artemis where it was thrown when the citadel was sacked. This is the largest and most important single object found from the Greek period in the Gulf. It contains 44 lines written in Greek which support the historical references claiming that the island of Failaka was named Ikaros by Alexander the Great after an island of the same name in the Aegean sea”
1960: from the work Glob and the Garden of Eden, in which it is captioned “the archaeologist Kristian Jeppesen shows visitors around, 1960.” The 2008 book The Danish Archaeological Expedition to Kuwait 1958 – 1963 by Flemming Højlund captions the same image as, “the headmaster of the school in Zor with his pupils visiting the excavation of the Greek temple in F5. To the left, sitting, Kristian Jeppesen.”
1960: from a website detailing the Danish Archaeological Expedition to Kuwait
1961: from the work Glob and the Garden of Eden
Early 1960s: from Failaka Island by Rajab
Early 1960s: from Failaka Island by Rajab. She writes, “the large open temple in the centre of the settlement in Tell Sa’ad (F3) with pillars of the altars. The temple is thought to be dedicated to the god Inzak.”
Early 1960s: an image of a mosque from Rajab’s work
Early 1960s: from Failaka Island by Rajab. She writes, “Qurainiyeh was a thriving little village… which was well cultivated and had fresh water wells. The ‘ethel’ trees which are extremely old testify to its early age. The old trees with their twisted trunks were, according to local folklore, haunted and are inhabited by jinn.”
1961: from the flickr of Verity Cridland
1961: from Voice of the Oud by Rajab, an image of the Al Khidr Shrine. That same photo is in Tareq Rajab’s work Glimpses of Kuwait, captioned, “the shrine of Al-Khidhr, which is situated on the north west point of the island near an old silted up lagoon.”
1961: this website states that this is the palace of Sheikh Jaber II
1961: Brett Jordan has uploaded photos his parents took while living in Kuwait. Here are a few photographs on a boat traveling to Failaka
1961: here is a photo from Jordan’s collection of a notable building. Jehan Rajab also includes a photo of the structure in her book Failaka Island and states, “a charming old diwaniyah with open windows all over it called ‘kishk’. This was one of the most beautiful buildings along the beach of al-Zor. Simple architecture at its best”
1961: Brett’s photos on the beach in Failaka
1961: from Failaka Island by Rajab
1962: in Voice of the Oud, Rajab writes, “visitors photographing the Greek Temple for a TV film”
1962: from Voice of the Oud by Rajab
1960s: this photo comes from the work Kuwait Today: A Welfare State, published in 1963
1964: from Kuwait Tourist Guide
1960s: Bader Al-Shaiji posted old photos of Failaka on this reel. In this aerial shot below, you can clearly see the palace of Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah, which today is the Heritage Museum. Next to the palace is “Failaka Mosque” and the modern water tower. According to this website, one of the structures along the beach is the Intermediate School. Nearby is the high school, built in 1954, and the minaret of Shuaib mosque.
More photos from Bader Al-Shaiji
1972: From the article The Johns Hopkins University Reconnaissance Expedition to the Arab-Iranian Gulf by Theresa Howard Carter, published in 1972
1974: photos taken by Deri Barringer, from the Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection
1976: in Failaka Island in the Postcards, Dr Ashkanani captions this image, “an aerial photograph of the archaeological sites on Failaka, taken by the Italian Archaeological Mission in 1976”
1970s(?): a user on reddit posted some old family photos from when they lived in Kuwait
1980s(?): an old travel brochure for Failaka seen on eBay and an image from this website
1980s(?): a residential street, photo from this website
1985: these were found on flickr
1985: more from that album – of the Dilmunite archaeological sites
1985: more from that album – of the Hellenistic site at F5
1985: from Meed: A Practical Guide
1990: in Failaka Island in the Postcards, Dr Ashkanani captions this image, “a photograph of one of the French Archaeological Mission members drawing the two Ionic capital on the two column and the stone bases”
1990: tourist chalets along the beach
1991: from Failaka Island by Rajab. She writes, “Failaka in the aftermath of the Iraqi invasion of 1990 which destroyed the town and forced its inhabitants to leave. This is the school where the Danish archaeologists first stayed in Failaka.”
1991: from Tareq Rajab’s work Glimpses of Kuwait
1991: from The Evidence by Adel Easa Al Yousifi
1991: seen in Majed Almutairi’s thesis The Archaeology of Kuwait titled, “Figure 2.22. Photograph showing the Heritage Museum and archaeology site with military tank during the Iraqi invasion (Habīb 1991, 84)” His bibliography cites the book Habīb, A. 1991. The great crime. Kuwait: al-Riyadhi Press.
