NARJAN
incentives: heritage saudi arabia 2012
ARCHAEOLOGICAL PRESERVATION
Today, the SCTA is also responsible for numerous restoration projects, including the excavation, cataloguing and preservation of historic sites, some of which date back more than a million years. Further archaeological work is carried out by the Department of Archaeology at King Saud University, Riyadh. The major restoration projects include the ancestral home of the Al-Saud family in DirÕiyah, the ancient sites of Fau, Mada'in Saleh, Al-'Ula, Tayma, Duma and along Darb Zubaydah, the pilgrimage road to Makkah. Many mosques around the Kingdom have also been restored, including the Holy Mosque in Makkah and the ProphetÕs 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. Programmes to rehabilitate historic town centres, traditional villages and markets are constantly being updated all over Saudi Arabia. The country has also made progress in establishing archives on the history of the Kingdom, collecting written material and photographs within the countryÕs libraries. Discovered during 2010 by the Saudi Arche- ology and Museum Authority, is Almagar, an archeological site located between the Tath- leeth and Wadi AL Dawaser Districts. The site has been hailed as unique, having produced evidence that man could have domesticated the horse as much as 9,000 years ago (as opposed to previously held views that horses were domesticated 5,500 years ago in Kazakhstan). Large sculptures of horses have been unearthed, as well as other animals used in daily life at the time, such as sheep, goats, ostriches, saluki dogs, falcons and fish. These animals were all found sculpted from local stone and the stone tools found at the site indicate the late Stone Age period.
THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, RIYADH
Today, contemporary architects look to these age-old building designs for inspiration, combining traditional methods and materials with modern-day resources
ARCHITECTURE
Urban heritage is one of the most impor- tant elements that reflects human develop- ment through the ages. Architecture can provide a picture, or time-line, of manÕs efforts to address and adapt the surround- ing environment to benefit his needs. Architectural heritage represents tangible evidence of past civilisations by reflecting the religious, cultural and social values of those previous generations. The job of the National Center for Urban Heritage is to preserve and develop different urban ele- ments, including heritage cities, quarters, villages, buildings and landmarks. Historically, builders in the central areas of the Kingdom preferred adobe for its availability, pliability and insulation. Adobe is a very basic blend of earth and water, often mixed with straw for strength and then shaped and dried. Even today you can still see many homes built with adobe, even in the modern cosmopolitan cities like Riyadh, although they are now in a dire state of repair. In the western parts of the Kingdom stone and red brick were common, while builders in Jeddah used coral from the Red Sea.
Today, contemporary architects look to these age-old building designs for inspiration, combining traditional methods and materi- als with modern-day resources. King Saud University and the King Khalid International Airport are two striking examples of just how well traditional Islamic design and modern structure can be combined.
Further striking examples of Arabic archi- tecture can be found in the Musmak Palace, which was built around 1865 and extensively renovated in the 1980s. It is a square-shaped fortified castle consisting of watch towers on all corners and very thick walls. Inside the mud fortress there is a reconstructed traditional diwan (sitting room) with an open courtyard and a fully functioning well. The for- tress is now a museum devoted to Abdulaziz. The Al-Thumairi Gate, in the centre of town, is an impressive restoration of one of the nine gates that used to lead into the city. Undeniably, RiyadhÕs most interesting attraction is the ruins of Dir'iyah, which lie 30 kilometres north of the city centre and to the north west of Al-Riyadh on the bank of Wadi Hanifa. This was the KingdomÕs first capital and it is now the countryÕs most popular archaeological site. The reconstructed ruins include palaces, mosques and the city wall. One of the most synonymous Arabic architectural structures is the minaret, which is also one of the most visible man-made structures in Saudi Arabia. The reason mina- rets rise above all surrounding structures is to allow the call to prayer to be clearly heard. Every mosque has at least one minaret, although two are more common and larger ones have more, with the Holy Mosque in Makkah boasting 12. Some are simple, while others are elaborately decorated with stone and tiles.
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