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Dubai holds lots of Guinness World Records from being home to the world’s tallest tower, the world’s deepest swimming pool and the world’s tallest landmark sign.
And now, the city can add another accolade to its impressive list of world records as Expo City’s Al Wasl Plaza has secured a Guinness World Record.
Al Wasl Plaza – Expo City’s dome – has won the Guinness World Record title for the largest interactive immersive dome.
Alwaleed Osman, Official Adjudicator at Guinness World Records, said on the unveiling of the award: “Al Wasl Plaza stands as a testament to architectural excellence and a distinguished structure that resonates with those who have had the privilege of experiencing it.
“Its recognition in Guinness World Records underscores the commitment of Expo 2020, and the subsequent Expo City Dubai, to innovation and excellence.”
The beating heart of Expo City, it’s 130 metres in diameter and over 67 metres tall (that’s big enough to fit the Leaning Tower of Pisa beneath it) and visitors can see immersive 360° videos projected onto the surface of the dome.
Up to 252 laser projectors are used to put images on the architecture that can be viewed from inside or outside of the dome.
Designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, Al Wasl Plaza has been built using unique materials that ensure it can be used year-round.
The semi-outdoor space has a trellis framework made out of steel and the pattern is inspired by the logo of the Expo 2020 exhibition. Fun fact: The logo is fully visible at the apex of the dome.
During Expo 2020 Dubai, Al Wasl Plaza was a hub for events from concerts to performances and, next year, it will host the UNTOLD music festival.
Al Wasl Plaza hosts daily projection shows and, upon news of its latest award, has opened the new Al Wasl Plaza Café – a homegrown brand that offers Arabic fusion cuisine.
Rami Al-Ali became the first Syrian Fashion designer to be recognized by the Business of Fashion List.
The Dubai-based fashion designer creates couture, bridal, and ready-to-wear collections. Naomi Campbell, Amal Clooney, and Assala are among some of the many celebrities he has dressed.
In 2001, he established his couture collection in Dubai and made his debut in Paris Couture Week in 2012.
The Business of Fashion is an online Magazine renowned globally for its definitive, explanatory point of view on the fashion world. Their aim is to build fashion’s worldwide community to inform, advise, and connect the Fashion industry. The online publication was founded in 2007 by Imran Amed.
The BoF 500 list is an index of diverse people molding the fashion world; from designers to entrepreneurs to personalities.
Other Arab figures who made the BoF’s 500 list feature Mohammed Ashi, Saudi’s first designer on the list, Emirati’s Khadija Al Bastaki along Saudi internet personality Amy Roko.
In her historical novel Cotissica, Ghada El-Absy depicts the story of the Greek adventurer and entrepreneur Theochari Kozzika (Egyptians pronounce the name in an Italian manner) and – in contrast – the life of a working-class Egyptian family.
Overwhelmed with dreams of wealth and prestige, Theochari arrives in Alexandria just after the Orabi Revolution (1879-1882) to live with his uncle Yanni and his wife.
Yanni does not help Theochari much except to give him advice, the most prominent is “middlemen are the new [Greek] gods.”
Theochari’s insatiable desire for money is evident when he allocates his uncle’s ships to repatriate Greeks from Alexandria during the bloody civil strife that erupted between foreigners and Egyptians in 1882 that culminated in the British bombardment of Alexandria and their ensuing conquest of Egypt.
El-Absy describes in detail an incident in which the British Consul’s Maltese servant, Francisco Zamit, starts a fight with an Egyptian coachman, stabbing him and taking shelter with the Maltese and the Greeks.
This is followed by fighting between the foreign communities in Alexandria, armed with pistols and guns, and Egyptians, carrying cudgels and sticks. The foreigners were driven by hatred and arrogance towards Egyptians, who in turn, felt humiliated in their own land until the Orabi Revolution awakened their wounded dignity.
One of the most unforgettable scenes in the novel is when a brave Egyptian man kills one of his countrymen who menaces a group of female Greek swimmers. The man leads the girls to safety, only to be shot by both the father and brother of one of the girls, who think that he is the one threatening them! One of the girls he saves, Angeliki, becomes Theochari’s wife later on and does charity, hoping to compensate the countrymen of this unknown hero.
Following the British occupation of Egypt, Theochari is joined by his younger brother, Polichronis.
Soon, Polichronis proved to be an indispensable partner for his elder brother through his exceptional skills in influencing and persuading people. Thus, Theochari decided to lay the plans and leave the execution of them to his younger brother.
Theochari took charge of providing the British troops with supplies during their Sudan campaign (1881-1899). He leaves Alexandria, establishing two factories in Tora, Cairo. One is for making alcohol for medical uses and the other is a brewery for making beer.
He makes the decision to move to Tora in order to be far away from both the greedy eyes of the British, who insist on taking a cut from every big business, and from the big Greek competitors, such as Gianaclis, owner of the famous wine factory.
El-Absy also provides a narrative from another universe, that of the family of Abdel-Alim, an Egyptian who works in Kozzika’s brewery.
This profession is a source of conflict within Abdel-Alim’s family. Whenever a male baby dies, his wife, Sabra, pours curses on him due to his profession, which is prohibited by Islam. In order to appease her, he gives her false promises that he will stop working in the brewery. He swings between staying and leaving until his best friend and co-worker takes him to hear a budding songstress, none other than Oum Kalthoum!
Abdel-Alim’s family is mired in superstitions and ignorance. For instance, Sabra asks a young man to put alms money, which she begged for, in a bundle and throw it in the street after walking for a while in order to make her son Talaat live, unlike his previous brothers.
El-Absy, who is a medical doctor, narrates an unbelievable story in which the jealous mother-in-law of Shawqia, Sabra’s most intimate friend and midwife, pays another midwife to let Shawqia’s baby die during delivery and then inserts a weasel into her womb to make her bleed and give her a hysterectomy.
Theochari and his brother begin to accumulate wealth, and all the while Abdel-Alim and his family are in a state of misery.
This misery is compounded by the inexplicable death of the husband of Abdel-Alim’s eldest daughter, Wedad, just ten days following the marriage. Following this calamity, Wedad resigns herself to sit beside the window for decades to become a clairvoyant. The rest of the daughters feel that their house is damned and join their mother in asking Abdel-Alim to stop working in the brewery so they can get married.
Throughout the novel, the author excessively merges Greek mythology with the minds, ideas, and words of Greek characters. For instance, after two and a half pages of engaging with and projecting mythological figures, the author says that Theochari was not that romantic!
El-Absy provides two friends and co-workers for Abdel-Alim: the Christian Anton and Samaan the Jew (this name is actually an error, as the Jewish name for Samaan is Sham’oon). These three characters are meant to convey the multi-confessional character of Egypt, with the three different religions working in the brewery in spite of it being taboo, at least for Muslims and Jews.
El-Absy, who is also a singer, devotes pages to Oum Kalthoum’s singing and the lyrics of her songs. It is this music that helps Abdel-Alim enter a phase of transcending intoxication and overcome his marital troubles.
However, one unconvincing scene is when Abdel-Alim, who is apparently illiterate, compares the establishment of the Tora Prison to the big prison in which Egypt is incarcerated.
The story of the Kozzika brothers continues through Theodore, Polichronis’ son. Theodore proves more than capable of managing the family business. He also has a much-publicized romantic affair with the American silent star Pearl White for the last ten years of her life.
Meanwhile, two of Abdel-Alim’s daughters marry, while the youngest, Set Abooha, shuns marriage, pursuing her studies and becoming a medical doctor. However, the only surviving son grows up, becomes a drug addict, kills one of his sisters, and steals her jewelry.
There are two scenes that were absolutely unnecessary. The first depicts Saad Zaghloul, the leader of the 1919 Revolution, in a dialogue with Sir Reginald Wingate, the British high commissioner. The second depicts Ahmed Aboud Pasha, the prominent Egyptian industrialist, talking to an unseen interlocutor about his career and his ambitions to seize the Kozzika brewery.
By this time, the winds had changed and the majority of foreigners had left Egypt after selling their businesses. This includes Theodore Kozzika, who sells his brewery and alcohol factory to Abboud Pasha, who converts them into a starch and glucose factory.
The novel consists of 35 chapters that are devoted either to the Kozzika or Abdel-Alim families, except in the final chapter where both families are mentioned together.
From the very first page, the author focuses on the mania of giving birth to male offspring among the Egyptian working classes represented by Sabra and her husband Abdel-Alim.
Ironically, the same tendency was also found in the Greek upper classes, albeit for totally different reasons, namely because the bride’s father paid the dowry.
This is demonstrated in a scene where Theochari’s wife, Angeliki, boils with jealousy when she learns that Polichronis’ French wife has given birth to a boy, while she gave birth to a girl.
Saudi engineer Rakan Al-Shammari has left an indelible mark on the railway industry in Germany.
His journey began with the pursuit of electrical engineering studies and he later taught at several German universities.
Al-Shammari’s path to success began while working as a project manager at Rail Power System GmbH. His dedication and passion for trains led him to excel in the field. The journey was not without its difficulties, as it required him to learn German, pursue bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and eventually take on teaching responsibilities.
Al-Shammari said: “In 2006, after graduating from high school, I applied for the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Foreign Scholarship Program. I spent a year studying the German language, followed by preparatory studies, and then I joined the University of Kassel to major in electrical and communications engineering. During my final year at university, I undertook practical training at the German Railways Company.”
He noted that after completing the practical experience, he pursued further education as a graduate student. “While studying for my master’s, I was offered a position as a lecturer at the university under a contractual arrangement, where I taught electricity to first and second-year students.”
He received a job offer in 2017 and joined a company specializing in railway project management in Germany. “This company managed new construction projects, particularly in infrastructure, as the German Railway Company itself does not execute such projects,” he noted.
Al-Shammari told Arab News that his educational journey began in the desert, where he studied until the third grade of primary school, living in tents and drinking well water. He later attended Al-Yarmouk Primary School in the city of Rafha for grades four to six and completed his secondary education in the city of Al-Uwaiqliyah.
Al-Shammari firmly believes that Saudi Arabia is on the cusp of a transportation revolution and is already reaping the rewards. He emphasized that the Kingdom will emerge as a developed country in the coming years, not solely reliant on oil and energy, but also due to the strength of its people and leadership, and their commitment to continual development and competition.
He expressed pride in having visionary leaders who invest in the talents of their citizens. He also noted Germany’s openness to creative minds and its support for them, attracting skilled individuals from around the world. He believes that effective resource management enhances the economy and strengthens Germany’s global position.
Al-Shammari acknowledged the initial difficulties he faced in studying in Germany, as it was his first experience living outside his familiar surroundings.
His advice to everyone is to embrace their sense of responsibility, seize opportunities, and pursue continuous learning in order to contribute to their country. He also emphasizes the importance of diversifying educational sources and collaborating with experts and scholars to develop a unique persona capable of competing on a global scale.
Finally, Al-Shammari expressed gratitude to the Saudi leadership, his family and friends, and the Saudi Cultural Mission in Germany. He acknowledged the mission’s continuous support, including increased stipends for Saudi students who excelled academically, enabling them to perform to the best of their abilities during their scholarships.
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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Al-Shammari said his educational journey began in the desert, where he studied until the third grade of primary school, living in tents and drinking well water. (Al-Shammari’s Instagram)
