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Description
Property Name: Al Bint Dam
Inventory No: 966-4-15
Date of infill of the inventory form: 2010-05-22
Country (State party): Saudi Arabia
Province: Madinah
Town: Madinah
Geographic coordinates: 25° 29′ 8.25″ N
39° 21′ 46.78″ E
Historic Period: Umayyad
Year of Construction: unknown
Style: Umayyad
Original Use: Aqueduct-Dam
Current Use: Unused
Architect: Unknown
Significance
Al Bint dam is located east of the road from Madina to Tabuk, lying 1km before the village of Al Thamd. Reportedly, it was built before Islam. The dam is located on a narrow area in Wadi Al Gars (the Valley of Planting,) and is built of stone and clay mixed with sand and rough plaster. It was built on two pillars and the space between them was filled with the same materials. The dam is 30 meters high and extends 215 meters.
SAD AL BINT is one of the largest historical dams in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Located in a narrow valley named WADI ALGRAS in HARAT KHAIBAR (KHAIBAR lava flow) with a length of 205m and 19m high. The dam is build with rock and covered on both sides with mud. Its surfaces consists of large stone blocks, some of them are carved and covered with mud mortar. The dam is divided into two supported broad pillars the distance between one and the other is about 10m.
It is located about 30 km south of Khaybar in Wadi al-Ghars, and this dam is considered one of the largest dams in the Arabian Peninsula, and it is believed that it dates back to the Umayyad era, its length is 300 m, its height is 30 m and its width is 10 m at the base, and the dam was built in a hierarchical manner because it is listed on both sides, and on the top from the drainage side The water is a wide corridor that extends along a wall that was built on the side overlooking the water basin at a height of about a meter. It is noticed that the front of the wall opposite the water was clad with mortar, and it seems that the other side was clad on the other side.
Selection Criteria
i. to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius
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
State of Preservation
The dam requires restoration.
References
– الراشد، سعد عبدالعزيز:
آثار منطقة المدينة المنورة (وكالة الآثار والمتاحف، الرياض 1423هـ/ 2003م).
– الأنصاري، عبدالرحمن الطيب :
خيبر الفتح الذي سرّ به النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم (دار القوافل، الرياض 1427هـ/ 2006م).
Commission of Tourism and Heritage