attractions HISTORIC SAUDI
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updated all over Saudi Arabia. The country has also made progress in establishing archives on the history of the kingdom, collecting written material, photographs and artefacts, which are stored in the country’s libraries and museums.
boasting 12. Minarets can be simple or ornamentally decorated, in keeping with the architectural style of the rest of the mosque.
RESTORING HISTORY Saudi Arabia is replete with historic sites that provide testament to the various civilisations and cultures that once called this part of Arabia home. The Saudi Arabian authorities are championing numerous restoration projects including the excavation and preservation of these key archaeological sites ensuring they can be enjoyed by successive generations of visitors. These include the ancestral
home of the Al Saud family in Dir’iyah. The city, 20 kilometres northwest of Riyadh, sits on the bank of Wadi Hanifa and was once the seat of the Al Saud family and capital of the first Saudi state. Its 14-kilometre wall with several watch towers was constructed during King Abdulaziz’s reign. Several palaces of the Al Saud family and Dreesha fortress make it a fitting place for UNESCO World Heritage Site status. To the northwest of the country near Madinah is perhaps the most
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impressive of all the heritage sites in the country. Mada’in Saleh was the seat of an ancient city of the pre-Islamic Nabatean civilisation, of which Petra in present-day Jordan was the capital. Its distinctive rock-cut architecture is characteristic of the Nabateans and its structures display the same features as its more famous northern counterpart – straight lines, angles, geometric patterns and symmetry. It is also the first in Saudi Arabia to be included among UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. Al Ula, meanwhile, is an old city
built of stone with rare examples of Islamic architecture. One of the oldest archaeological sites in the kingdom, it has altars, blocks and Lihyanite-inscribed stones among its houses, which have been lined up in a unique side-by-side pattern to form an outer enclosure wall that protected the city from attack. More recent settlements central
to revealing more of the country’s history have also been restored, including the old Qasr Al Hokm area in Riyadh and the ancient quarters of Jeddah and Hail. Programmes to rehabilitate historic town centres, traditional villages and markets are constantly being
1 Mada’in Saleh
2 Coffee from a Bedouin of the Yam tribe
3 HH King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia performs the Ardha
4 Incense burning
MUSEUMS The Saudi Arabian Society for Culture & Arts was founded in 1972 to support rising local talent and provide them with the opportunity to display their art. The society established a library and information centre, as well as the kingdom’s first cultural centre in Riyadh. The city is also the home of the King Fahd Library, which has one of the largest collections of rare manuscripts on Arabic and Islamic literature. The largest museum in Saudi
HORSE PLAY
SAUDI SITE ASTOUNDS THE WORLD
Te remote area of Al Maqar might become one of the most important
archaeological sites in the whole of the Arab world. In 2011, Saudi officials revealed that stone
carvings dating from 9,000 BCE had been discovered here, many of which carry horse motifs.
Te find suggests that horses may have been domesticated here at that time – a direct challenge to the theory that the horse was first domesticated in Kazakhstan around 5,500BCE.
Te finds, which also included arrow heads, scrapers, grain grinders and tools for weaving, were discovered by a local farmer.
Arabia is Riyadh’s National Museum, which opened to the public in 1999. It was built to commemorate the centennial of the seizure of Riyadh by King Abdulaziz in 1902, which led to the re-establishment of the Al Saud family as rulers and to the foundation of the modern Saudi state in 1932. Other museums in Riyadh
include the King Saud University Museum, home to a display of finds from archaeological digs and the Murabba Palace, with exhibits of traditional clothing and crafts. Museums can be found all over
the country, each showing different facets of a diverse cultural history. The village of Rijal Al Ma’a in the Asir province is where local people have preserved 60 traditional stone dwellings dating back 500 years and the Al Tayibat City Museum for International Civilisation in Jeddah is a vast palace containing 300 rooms crammed with a collection built over a merchant’s lifetime. The Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) is also working to establish an Islamic heritage museum in Makkah and a Qur’an museum in Madinah.
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