Gallery
Description
Property Name: Al Ula Heritage Village
Inventory No: –
Date of infill of the inventory form: 2020
Country (State party): Saudi Arabia
Province: Madinah
Town: Al Ula
Geographic coordinates: 26°37’29.90″N 37°54’54.14″E
Historic Period: 6th century BC
Year of Construction: Unknown
Style: –
Original Use: Settlement
Current Use: Settlement
Architect: Unknown
Significance
An ancient historical area, many parts of it have been destroyed, and it represents the ancient urban heritage of the region, and there are buildings with different uses such as the mosque and the market, and is characterized by the presence of remaining ruins of Musa bin Nusayr castle, in addition to the tantura that was used to know the agricultural seasons and the timing of water distribution to farmers.
Al Ula Heritage Village, also known as Ad-Deerah, is the traditional Arabian village to which people of the oasis moved some eight centuries ago and inhabited until the 20th century. It was built on a higher part of the valley in order to be clear of the floods that can occur during the rainy season. At its maximum expansion the town contained more than 1000 houses, which were built adjacent to one another, thereby forming a wall around the town to defend the population. On the west of the town, at the bottom of the cliff, is the old souq, which has been renovated
Selection Criteria
i. to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius
ii. to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design
iii. to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared
vi. to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance
State of Preservation
Well preserved as archaeological site
References
Commission of Tourism and Heritage