A Bridge to the Future

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Read this Newsletter online here​

2025: Our Year in Review

In September, we celebrated 10 years since the launch of Rashad Salim's Ark Re-imagined: the art project that gave rise to our Ark for Iraq programme to protect and revitalise Iraq’s ancient boatbuilding traditions.

2025 has been a year of transition. Following rapid development in 2023-24 – when the Iraqi Heritage Boat Clubs Network grew from 4 to 8 boat clubs, a new Water Scouts initiative emerged, and popular exhibitions took shape in Basra, Sulaymaniyah, and touring across Iraq – this year we've turned our focus to consolidating these achievements, and seeking to assure their continuity under local management.

Highlights of 2025 included:

• The Iraqi Maritime Heritage Touring Exhibition reached 9 venues, inspiring new interest in maritime heritage at universities and local museums.
• Water Scouts initiatives were ongoing at local boat clubs, and water scouting was officially established on a national level at the first Iraqi Water Scouts Conference in December 2025.
• The Abbasid Jendoul – our prototype reconstruction of a 13th-century watercraft – was tested in Basra and its design refined and developed.
• Our Design & Exhibition Development team are developing a virtual 3D environment based on the Open Museum Initiative for Water Cultures exhibitions in Basra – launching soon!

Read on for details – and if you'd like to know more, we would love to connect with you in the New Year.

Touring Exhibition reaches new audiences

Since its launch in December 2024, the Iraqi Maritime Heritage Touring Exhibition has visited 9 venues, including universities, conferences, festivals, and local museums – and welcomed audiences ranging from students and researchers to ministry staff, and even the President of Iraq.

The exhibition features scale models and visuals of 9 different types of traditional and historic watercraft, richly illustrated and captioned in both Arabic and English. Visits to a further 6 venues are planned in the New Year, thanks to the kind support of the British Institute for the Study of Iraq (BISI) who have awarded a grant for the exhibition's ongoing travels and related events.

To learn more about the exhibition download the prospectus here, and for tour updates follow its Facebook page here.

Iraqi Water Scouts are now official!

The first Iraqi Water Scouts Conference was held in Basra from 24-26 December 2025 under the patronage of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and their Basra Directorate. Representatives of scouting associations from 9 Governorates were in attendance, alongside representatives of the Ministry of Youth and Sports (Scouts Committee), Ministry of Higher Education, Ministry of Water Resources, Safina Projects and our partners Shanashil Foundation.

Participants discussed ways to activate water scouting, which is emerging as a new practice for reviving Iraq's maritime heritage and developing its potential. It involves training scouts in traditional boating methods, and developing their skills and knowledge in water heritage, environmental protection and biodiversity, cultural events and festivals.

Plans for 2026 include our first international Scout twinning programme, which aims to connect young people from Iraq and UK to learn, collaborate and take meaningful action to restore and protect their local waterways. Watch this space!

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Almasra TV was among local media outlets reporting on the first Iraqi Water Scouts Conference

The Abbasid Jendoul returns – after 800 years...

In July 2025, our first Abbasid Jendoul took to the water (see photo in Newsletter header). Based on an illustration by Mahmoud ibn Yahya El Wasiti in the Maqamat al-Hariri manuscript of 1237 AD, this meticulous reconstruction was developed through a series of visual studies by Rashad Salim with architectural designers, and scale models by three makers during 2023-24. Adil Shakir Abdallah was selected to build the first full-sized prototype reconstruction of the Abbasid Jendoul at his workshop in Huwair in late 2024.

After trials on the Khora canal and on the Shatt al-Arab in Basra, modifications were made including repositioning the three pairs of oarlocks to create more standing room for the oarsmen. Development of details, including the ornamentation of the boat, are ongoing. It's an amazing learning process!

Coming up in 2026...

• In February we'll be launching a new website for the Open Museum Initiative for Water Cultures, featuring virtual replicas of our indoor and outdoor exhibitions in Basra, so they can be accessed from anywhere.
• We're contributing to an online exhibition about Water in Islamic cultures with the Museum With No Frontiers.
• We'll be announcing some exciting new ways to engage with our programme. This includes preparing to bring boats to the UK for a journey down the Thames, and new ways that you can get involved in developing the work in Iraq.

Thanks so much for your interest, encouragement and support for this work. We're grateful to all who have contributed to its progress during the past 10 years, and look forward to reconnecting with you in the next stages.

Wishing you a peaceful and fruitful 2026.

Thanks to the kind support of our current project funders:

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