Venue
Radisson Blu, Al Hashemi II
This impressive structure is the realization of one man's vision and dedication to preserve Kuwait's maritime heritage for the future generations. Apart from bringing back memories of those graceful bygone days of sail, it has been recognized by Guiness World Records as the largest wooden dhow in the world. For Husain Marafie, one of the owners of the hotel, this was his third and most ambitious dhow-building project. Mohammedi II, his first enterprise, houses the popular Al Boom Restaurant, followed by Al Ghazeer, which is the Radisson SAS Hotel's pleasure cruiser. Al Hashemi II, the newest dhow dwarfs its older sisters. Little more than a century ago, Husain Marafie’s great-grandfather built a big dhow and named it Al Hashemi. Husain Marafie has named his present dhow Al Hashemi II, in celebration and commemoration of the memory of this forerunner, which saw active service for the Marafie family. For him, the preservation of Kuwaiti maritime heritage and the continuation of his family's shipbuilding and ship-owing traditions that span well over a couple of centuries are a driving passion. It was in 1985 that Husain Marafi started planning how to achieve his unique ambition of constructing a dhow of gigantic proportion.
His intensive involvement in the construction of his other two dhows, and the great amount of scholarship he had undertaken in traditional marine architecture, amply assisted him in this complex enterprise. The tragic Iraqi invasion however caused a setback in the progress of this project. For various reasons, groundwork for the permanent berth of Al Hashemi II, could not resume until the second half of 1995. On 10th February 1997, the actual construction of Al Hashemi II, began with the commencement of laying her keel. The construction of the ship cost more than 30 million dollars through 2001.
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