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This department sponsors a wide range of cultural programmes, including literary and drama clubs, arts and crafts, and folklore classes.
The Department of Culture regularly sponsors exhibitions, literary readings and symposia. It also sponsors Saudi nationals in international art and cultural events. The Saudi Arabian Society for Culture & Arts, which was founded in 1972, sup- ports rising local talent and provides them with the opportunity to display their art. The society has established a library and information centre, as well as the King- dom's first cultural centre in Riyadh. Furthermore, there is the King Fahd Library in Riyadh, which offers one of the largest collections of rare manuscripts on Arabic and Islamic literature, and the King Faisal Foundation, whose annual King Faisal International Prizes includes one for Arabic literature.
The Department of Museums & Antiquities was established in 1974, but today, the re- sponsibility for the many museums through- out the country falls on the Saudi Commis- sion for Tourism & Antiquities (SCTA). The largest museum in Saudi Arabia is the National Museum in Riyadh, which opened in 1999. This museum was built to com- memorate the centennial of the taking of the Masmak Fortress by King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman in 1902. This single event led to the founding of the modern Saudi state. Other museums in Riyadh include the King Saud University Museum, which has a display of finds from archaeological digs, and Murabba Palace, with exhibits of tradi- tional clothing and crafts.
Cultural Festivals
The most famous cultural event in Saudi Arabia is the Jenadriyah Heritage & Cultural Festival, which is organised every year by the National Guard. The festival was first held in 1985, and today it continues to attract more than one million Saudis annually that are keen to learn about the traditional culture and crafts of Saudi Arabia.
The event opens with a traditional camel race and is followed by artisan displays, such as pottery, woodwork and weavers. Visitors can also stroll through history in a heritage village, which resides perma- nently in Jenadriyah, just outside Riyadh.
saudiarabia 2011
Archaeological preservation Today, the SCTA is also responsible for numerous restoration projects, including the excavation, cataloguing and preservation of historic sites. Further archaeological work is carried out by the Department of Archaeology at King Saud University in Riyadh. The major restoration projects include the ancestral home of the Al-Saud family in Dir'iyah, the ancient sites of Fau, Madain Saleh, Al-Ula, Tayma, Duma and along Darb Zubay- dah, the pilgrimage road to Makkah. A large number of mosques around the Kingdom have also been restored, including the Holy Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet's Mosque in Al Madinah. In addition, whole villages have been restored including the old Qasr Al-Hokm area in Riyadh, as well as the ancient quarters of Jeddah and Hail.
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At the heritage village, visitors can watch blacksmiths smelting iron and hammering out swords and daggers, metal smiths creat- ing traditional brass and copper coffee pots, potters using a traditional foot-powered wheel, tailors hand-sewing cloaks and basket weav- ers shaping palm fronds.
There are also traditional dancers per- forming the ardha, the national male sword dance, with singers and poetry recitals. Poetry is considered to be one of the highest expressions of literary art in Saudi Arabia. It has been passed down from the days of the Bedouin where travellers would gather around a storyteller to hear tales of love, bravery, chivalry and war. The Holy Qur'an is revered as the ultimate literary model. Saudi folk music has also been shaped by the nomadic Bedouins and the travelling pilgrims.
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