Diriyah, Riyadh. December 201y
[from FB post: December 19.2014]
Today I visited Diriyah, the original village of the House of Saud. It is one of two UNESCO Heritage sites in Saudi Arabia. They are doing a total makeover of the ruins and the area... it is nothing short of amazing. We are talking hundreds of millions of dollars... It may be THE showplace museum of the entire Middle East. Of course one wonders how such a place got on the UNESCO list....?? Hmmmmm. Nevertheless, I was greatly impressed.
Almost every visit to Riyadh, I met up with friends and all of them ran me out to Diriyah on the northwestern edge of the city. I watched the place get more and more "complete" over time. Basically a wadi with a lot of palm trees along the dry creek bed - on one side are shops and restaurants and a few very upscale neighborhoods, and on the other, a HUGE construction zone that is recreating the "simple" village from whence the House of Saudi sprang. As mentioned above, it has been given UNESCO World Heritage Status, but rumor has it that UNESCO was desperate to get Madain Saleh [see: Madain Saleh], the second city of the Nabateans, protected from the very destructive elements within the Saudi religious establishment that might have literally blown it up. The story goes that in order to convince Saudi Arabia to apply for Madain Saleh to be on the list, UNESCO also had to add Diriyah. Perhaps only urban legend, yet interestingly there is little about Diriyah compared to other far more ancient sites in the Kingdom that warrants UNESCO World Heritage Status. Not to mention, World Heritage sites are NEVER about re-creation - they are about preserving what exists.
Whatever the case may be, on the other side of the wadi in Diriyah rises what will be the greatest museum/cultural showcase on the Arabian peninsula [see: museums and calendars]. This ultimate historical fantasy legitimizes the rule of the current royals. In my five years in Abha, it crept slowly toward official opening. I haven't heard if it has completely thrown open its doors to the public or not, but the finished product promises to be impressive. In "no green space Riyadh", the Diriyah Culture Park/Museum is a welcome addition (at least in winter).
My best memory of the place is on a visit with AQ. He had gradated from university and was working in Riyadh as a translator for joint Saudi/American military training before he started graduate school. We went out to Diriyah early on a Friday and were wandering around. We found an art gallery that, for the time, was quite daring in that it was selling works that portrayed human faces and forms. We both were taken by the gallery. In addition, a couple worked there and the woman was not totally covered in traditional Saudi dress. It turns out they were Jordanian. We chatted for a short time and ended up getting a lunch invitation since they were closing soon. I told AQ that we should accept since I worried about the dread "Friday Effect" of no single males allowed [see: Ragadan Forest Park] in any of the Diriyah restaurants.
We had a very nice lunch there and even AQ was amazed at the hospitality given to total strangers. Then, the hilarity ensued. I think AQ and I both thought our hosts were not very religious given the kind of art they were selling. Suddenly it was time for mid-afternoon prayer and the man said to Amer, "Ok, let's pray". Since AQ is probably the LEAST observant Saudi I ever met, I was literally laughing to death inside. After prayers we left and AQ admitted that he felt uncomfortable with the whole situation after lunch, but having been given such hospitality, what could he do? Add to that, AQ was Saudi, so was the Jordanian guy praying because he THOUGHT AQ would insist on it? We will never know, but it remains an amusing memory of an afternoon prayer of which the sincerity of both parties was high suspect!