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Mohammed bin Rashid Reviews Cultural District Project in Dubai South

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum reviewed the cultural district project. WAM
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum reviewed the cultural district project. WAM
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Mohammed bin Rashid Reviews Cultural District Project in Dubai South

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum reviewed the cultural district project. WAM
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum reviewed the cultural district project. WAM

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, reviewed the cultural district project, located within the Azizi Venice community in Dubai South, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.

Launched by Azizi Developments, the project aims to enrich Dubai’s cultural and art landscape and foster innovation in the creative sector, WAM said.

Sheikh Mohammed was briefed by Mirwais Azizi, Founder and Chairman of Azizi Developments, on the key components of the project which seeks to strengthen Dubai's position as a global cultural hub and improve its ranking in global competitiveness indices. The unique project reflects Dubai's commitment to nurturing creative talent, reinforcing its reputation as a leading destination for creatives worldwide.

Aligned with the aims of the Dubai Creative Economy Strategy, the cultural district project in Dubai South supports the leadership’s vision to transform Dubai into a global creative economy capital. By fostering a supportive environment for creatives, investors, and entrepreneurs, the project aims to drive global leadership in culture and creativity. Creative business incubators that use advanced technology to empower creatives and enhance the sector’s global competitiveness are central to this initiative.

The cultural district in Dubai South will feature a collection of exceptional facilities, including an opera house, theater, exhibition halls, and a performing arts academy. Designed to enrich Dubai's vibrant and diverse cultural scene, the project is poised to attract artists and creatives from around the globe. Seamlessly blending art and culture, the upcoming district promises to be a vibrant hub, enriching the lives of Dubai South residents through diverse activities and experiences.

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Thousands Greet the Winter Solstice at the Ancient Stonehenge Monument

A person holds up a smart phone as they wait for sunrise during the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)
A person holds up a smart phone as they wait for sunrise during the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)
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Thousands Greet the Winter Solstice at the Ancient Stonehenge Monument

A person holds up a smart phone as they wait for sunrise during the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)
A person holds up a smart phone as they wait for sunrise during the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)

Thousands of tourists, pagans, druids and people simply yearning for the promise of spring marked the dawn of the shortest day of the year at the ancient Stonehenge monument on Saturday.

Revelers cheered and beat drums as the sun rose at 8:09 a.m. (0809 GMT) over the giant standing stones on the winter solstice — the shortest day and the longest night in the Northern Hemisphere. No one could see the sun through the low winter cloud, but that did not deter a flurry of drumming, chanting and singing as dawn broke.

There will be less than eight hours of daylight in England on Saturday — but after that, the days get longer until the summer solstice in June.

The solstices are the only occasions when visitors can go right up to the stones at Stonehenge, and thousands are willing to rise before dawn to soak up the atmosphere.

The stone circle, whose giant pillars each took 1,000 people to move, was erected starting about 5,000 years ago by a sun-worshiping Neolithic culture, according to The AP. Its full purpose is still debated: Was it a temple, a solar calculator, a cemetery, or some combination of all three?

In a paper published in the journal Archaeology International, researchers from University College London and Aberystwyth University said the site on Salisbury Plain, about 128 kilometers (80 miles) southwest of London, may have had political as well as spiritual significance.

That follows from the recent discovery that one of Stonehenge’s stones — the unique stone lying flat at the center of the monument, dubbed the “altar stone” — originated in Scotland, hundreds of miles north of the site. Some of the other stones were brought from the Preseli Hills in southwest Wales, nearly 240 kilometers (150 miles) to the west,

Lead author Mike Parker Pearson from UCL’s Institute of Archaeology said the geographical diversity suggests Stonehenge may have served as a “monument of unification for the peoples of Britain, celebrating their eternal links with their ancestors and the cosmos.”