After wandering for several days through the winding desert biome, with blisters on my feet and an unquenchable thirst, I was close to admitting that I was lost. Mojang really needed to provide me with a better map for the office. Then, over a massive dune, I spotted it. A camel! It was the largest camel I had ever seen!
His name is Bonifacio, and he resides in the desert right next to this grand mosque, featuring its beautiful rounded architecture, lush vegetation, and filled with pure, delicious water. This place is called Al-Kabira in Minecraft PE.
Bonifacio and his home are creations of builders DoriFya and El-Nakix, who met a year and a half ago. “When we started talking, we realized we shared many ideas,” they explain. “We decided to create something together, and thus our first project, Shan-Yi, was born.”
They mention that their latest work, Al-Kabira, drew inspiration from a mosque located in Abu Dhabi, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.
This earlier project combined two builder specialties to create a complex composition of cultural architecture, complemented by the vast symbolism of its surroundings. In Shan-Yi, the assembly celebrates Japanese architecture.
Indeed, these two have made this original inspiration proud, although they don’t always enjoy referencing real life. “When we start a new project,” they tell me, “we always do some planning and decide what form we want to see as a result,” but aside from that, they prefer their own path with a more organic development approach. “We always build our projects as we go because we love adding new ideas during construction, and we don’t want to follow any examples or references.”
Together, they began developing the main structure of the mosque, added domes, and later connected those domes to the walls. Once they completed the rough sketch, they started embellishing their creation.
The camel, Bonifacio, was crafted by DoriFya in Minecraft PE. “It took me a couple of days to shape it and get the overall idea. I drew as much inspiration as I could from pictures of real camels.”
DoriFya also created the desert town situated behind the palace while El-Nakix worked on the palace itself. “Of course,” they say, “during this process, we collaborated, helped each other, and offered advice, but each of us had our primary focus.”
However, it is truly the plant life that elevates Al-Kabira to its full status as an “oasis.” Life thriving in one of the harshest environments on Earth. “We decided to add plants and a waterfall around the camel because we wanted to present him as part of the environment,” they explain. “The camel is part of the oasis.”
For these two builders, this assembly represents a special kind of oasis. “This assembly, for us, is like an escape from [our] busy lives; it’s like an oasis for the mind. This project embodies a sort of mirage, a mirage showcasing an oasis with a majestic white palace and abundant water and greenery. Only a few can witness it: people with hope. If you think you’ll never achieve something, you won’t have the chance to do so. And that’s why only hopeful individuals can reach the oasis Al-Kabira in MCPE.”
Previous collaborative experiments allowed them to create this Arabian paradise, a sacred home for the beloved magical camel Bonifacio, though not all their experiments were successful. They explain, “We actually had to redo the assembly from scratch because, while executing commands, we accidentally destroyed the map. It took us two hours to restore everything in MCPE.”
Well, I suppose we all make mistakes. Some of us learn from them, while others find themselves back where they started – in the desert with blisters on their feet. How did I end up here again?
