UAE | Heritage and Culture
'History hunter' reveals his house of treasures in Abu Dhabi
A walk through Yousuf Khoury's house is like a walk through world history. Hundreds of thousands of antique items are scattered throughout his villa.
- By Marten Youssef, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:04 August 2, 2008
- Khoury has spent the last 30 years collecting antiques from around the world.
- Image Credit: Marten Youssef/Gulf News
Abu Dhabi: A walk through Yousuf Khoury's house is like a walk through world history.
Hundreds of thousands of antique items are scattered throughout his villa. He has spent the latter half of his 60 years collecting antiques from around the world. As his villa bursts with history, the Abu Dhabi native is looking for a museum and a little help to catalogue his collection.
Outside of his villa is an ancient cannon with faded Arabic words written on it. He walks past it merely pointing at it. In the entrance of his home is a five-foot ancient globe with Quranic verses carved on it. He walks past it too and into a reception room full of jaw-dropping antiques.
Qajar Dynasty
Khoury unlocks a glass case and brings out a negative of a picture taken on a metal sheet. "Before film cameras they use to take pictures on a specific kind of metal," he puts it down and walks over to the next cupboard. "This is recording wire. Long before tape and records this is how they would record and listen to audio," he says. On the label the date is inscribed: 1895.
Behind another glass shelf, tucked between pictures and records is a large silver platter with a faded royal emblem. "This used to belong to a Persian ruler Mohammad Shah," and walks on as if he were pointing to an ordinary platter in his kitchen. The emblem is that of a lion holding a sword with his right paw with a sun rising in the background. This was an emblem specific to the Qajar Dynasty when Iran was Persia. By the specific design of the emblem, which has developed over the years, it can be traced to the late 1800s.
He holds up a photocopy of the original July 4, 1776 American Declaration of Independence. "Do you know what this is?"
In an abrupt fashion, Khoury pauses, walks out of the room. "Come with me," he says in his broken English.
In a dark corridor of his massive villa, he reaches for a key and slowly opens the door to a room which is flooded with more of his antiques. With hardly any space to walk, he makes his way to the back.
"I don't have any more room in my house and I want to showcase these items because many of them are one of a kind," Khoury says.
Journey
Among his collection are hundreds of newspaper copies from the Illustrated London News in the 1870s. The double-sided single-sheet newspaper used sketches to illustrate the picture. It was the world's first illustrated newspaper.
Towards the end of the visit, he brings a suitcase, sits on the floor with the mannerism of a bedouin and slowly opens it as if light will burst from the bag. This was the hobby that started his massive collection. Khoury's collection started with stamps and coins that date back centuries. One of his coins is a rare shekel that is identical to that discovered in a Jerusalem site believed to be King David's Second Temple, which is nearly 1,000 BC.
After discovering his love of antiques, he travelled to more than 15 countries buying any antique that came across his path. Along the way he learned Hindi, Urdu, Farsi and English. With no guideline or theme, Khoury set on a journey through India where he discovered massive colonial antiques left behind.
Soon he earned the reputation of the history hunter. He would receive phone calls from people looking to sell their collection. "If I saw something and turned away from it, I wouldn't be able to sleep until I bought it," he laughs.
Cornered into announcing his favourite piece, he stands back shocked as if he has to choose between his children. "No way. I can't choose."
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