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AlUla's Jabal Ikmah Listed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register

AlUla's Maraya Concert Hall. (AlUla)
AlUla's Maraya Concert Hall. (AlUla)
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AlUla's Jabal Ikmah Listed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register

AlUla's Maraya Concert Hall. (AlUla)
AlUla's Maraya Concert Hall. (AlUla)

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) listed AlUla's Jabal Ikmah in its Memory of the World Register, years after Al-Hijr (Mada’in Salih) archeological site in AlUla governorate became the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s first World Heritage Site to be inscribed in 2008.
The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) announced the new Saudi achievement in coordination with the Saudi National Commission for Education, Culture, and Science after the Harrat Uwayrid entered UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) program last year.
Jabal Ikmah is one of the most prominent historic sites in AlUla and is designated as one of the largest open-air libraries in the Arabian Peninsula.

According to SPA, it includes hundreds of carved inscriptions and stone carvings along the mountain made in different eras and civilizations, some thousands of years ago.

The listing of Jabal Ikmah on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register constitutes a model for cooperation to develop AlUla into a pioneering global destination for cultural and natural heritage.
Such cooperation binds RCU with UNESCO and a network of global partners to the commission, including ICOMOS Saudi Arabia, the Louvre Museum, and the French Agency for AlUla Development (AFALULA).
Jabal Ikmah is one of the five central districts of the Journey Through Time Masterplan, and it embodies the convergence of nature and history in AlUla as part of projects to develop the natural and cultural environment and highlight cultural depth.
As part of the RCU efforts to preserve heritage, the Journey Through Time Masterplan included establishing the "Kingdoms Institute" in Dadan Oasis, whose design is inspired by the Dadanian civilization.
The institute includes several archaeological programs and research studies. It will specialize in studying and analyzing artifacts, their contents, the stories behind them, and the most prominent advanced scientific methodologies and international practices for archaeological excavation and heritage preservation.
RCU aims to share the legacy of the governorate with the world through various means of partnerships to help explore its features and natural and cultural environment.
This emanates from the commission’s commitment to double the importance of the historical status of the governorate and highlight its cultural features to achieve the goals of AlUla Vision, which are consistent with the goals of Saudi Vision 2030.
In the past few days, the commission, in partnership with UNESCO, issued the first newsletter of the "Memory of the Arab World" program to highlight AlUla’s legacy and the importance of documenting heritage, enriching civilizations, and cultural communication.
The bulletin included promoting awareness about the cultural diversity and heritage in AlUla. It also shed light on various inscriptions that display the unique history of the governorate and the different cultural meanings that aim to enhance communication between civilizations.
This reflects efforts to protect the historical, natural, and cultural sites of AlUla and promote a common understanding of the importance of documentary heritage as a gateway for education and dialogue between cultures.

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Culture

On a Culinary Homecoming, Influencer Chefs Look to Perpetuate Palestinian Dishes 

Palestinian chefs from North America taste local Palestinian products as they explore the quality and richness of Palestinian products and sustainable agriculture, in Gaza City May 8, 2023. (Reuters)
Palestinian chefs from North America taste local Palestinian products as they explore the quality and richness of Palestinian products and sustainable agriculture, in Gaza City May 8, 2023. (Reuters)
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On a Culinary Homecoming, Influencer Chefs Look to Perpetuate Palestinian Dishes 

Palestinian chefs from North America taste local Palestinian products as they explore the quality and richness of Palestinian products and sustainable agriculture, in Gaza City May 8, 2023. (Reuters)
Palestinian chefs from North America taste local Palestinian products as they explore the quality and richness of Palestinian products and sustainable agriculture, in Gaza City May 8, 2023. (Reuters)

For Canadian celebrity chef Suzanne Husseini, a first culinary tour of the Palestinian territories was a chance to preserve and promote the dishes and folk-remedies of her ancestry.

During a farm-to-table tour of the occupied West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, Husseini and four other high-profile chefs encountered a Palestinian cuisine often unfamiliar to foreigners more accustomed to news of conflict with Israel.

"I'm back home, in Palestine, to follow, to see, to explore and document and research and reconnect with my people, with the land, with the farms, with the food - because food is my language," said Husseini, whose family comes from a town near the West Bank city of Nablus.

The tour was sponsored by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) with a view to expanding the international appeal of Palestinian cuisine despite the relative scarcity and expense of some of its ingredients.

The chefs, with Palestinian roots, focused on traditional techniques such as how to turn the poisonous dark purple Palestine lily, which blooms in the spring, into an ingredient for soups and a traditional medicine.

They also learned about the nutritional benefits of "freekeh", wheat picked while still green, smoked to retain its natural proteins and served like rice.

Mirna Bamieh, a chef and founder of the Palestine Hosting Society, which curates and seeks to revive traditional Palestinian recipes, discovered a local variant of the "kubeh" meat dumpling frequently associated with Kurdish kitchens.

"It was super fascinating because you know, we always think that we don't have a kubeh culture in Palestine,” Bamieh said.

Ismail Abu Arafeh, head of Solutions Mapping at the UNDP, said the tour gave the chefs a window into the wider culture of Palestinians amid their decades-old struggle for statehood.

"They want to see the history, the cultural significance, but also, most importantly, the nutritional value of what these old dishes bring," he added, suggesting the process could "position Palestine as a niche market that serves really the old traditional ways of production".

Culture

Egypt Commemorates 118th Anniversary of Heliopolis

Baron Empain palace's in Heliopolis. (Shutterstock)
Baron Empain palace's in Heliopolis. (Shutterstock)
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Egypt Commemorates 118th Anniversary of Heliopolis

Baron Empain palace's in Heliopolis. (Shutterstock)
Baron Empain palace's in Heliopolis. (Shutterstock)

Egypt held weeklong celebrations to mark the 118th anniversary of Heliopolis, or New Egypt, one of the capital Cairo’s most famous neighborhoods.

During Heliopolis Week, the ministries of tourism and communications organized a cultural and arts festival at the Granada Palace to highlight historic events from the neighborhood.

Heliopolis was established by Belgian Baron Édouard Empain in 1905 after the “Heliopolis Oases Company”, currently known as the “Heliopolis Company”, signed a contract to construct a railway line linking the Cairo city center to New Egypt. Empain began building the neighborhood over an area of 25 square kilometers and he later named it Heliopolis.

In a speech at a festival marking the end of Heliopolis Week on Thursday, Ahmed Issa, minister of Tourism and Antiquities, said: “New Egypt was born in the Cairo desert and it boasts several unique breathtaking sights, such as castles, gardens and places of worship.”

Cairo enjoys unique tourism characteristics that can transform it into one of the world’s greatest tourism cities, he stressed.

The Baron Empain palace is a major historic building in Heliopolis, a landmark, and a tourist attraction in the Egyptian capital, he noted.

In 2020, the Egyptian government opened the palace after renovation and development, and turned it into a museum that highlights the history of Heliopolis.

Built by the Barron on Salah Salem street on an area of 12,500 square meters, the palace dates back to 1911. French Architect Alexander Marcel was inspired from the Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia, and the Odisha Hindu temples.

Empain lived in the palace, whose belongings were auctioned in the early 1950s. It remained neglected until its ownership was transferred to the Egyptian culture ministry in 2007. Its renovation was completed in 2020.

The Heliopolis Heritage Foundation organized Heliopolis Week under the sponsorship of different government agencies. The festival was aimed at “putting Heliopolis on the tourism map,” according to officials at the ministry of antiquities and tourism.

The festival included seminars and panel discussions about the history of Heliopolis, and how to revive historic buildings and areas to boost tourism. It also included art exhibitions that highlighted the history of the neighborhood.

Issa said these activities “help shed light on the historic and touristic landmarks in Egypt,” noting recent renovations and restorations in several regions that will help boost the sector.

Egypt plans to attract 30 million foreign tourists by 2028 through the National Tourism Strategy that calls for developing aviation and improving the quality of services in the tourism sector.

Issa had previously revealed tourism to Egypt had grown by 43 percent in the first three months of 2023 compared with the same period last year. Fifteen million tourists are expected by the end of the year.

Culture

Egypt Unveils Recently Discovered Ancient Workshops, Tombs in Saqqara Necropolis

An Egyptian antiquities worker brushes a recently unearthed embalming bed at the site of the Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, 24 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, May 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
An Egyptian antiquities worker brushes a recently unearthed embalming bed at the site of the Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, 24 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, May 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
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Egypt Unveils Recently Discovered Ancient Workshops, Tombs in Saqqara Necropolis

An Egyptian antiquities worker brushes a recently unearthed embalming bed at the site of the Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, 24 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, May 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
An Egyptian antiquities worker brushes a recently unearthed embalming bed at the site of the Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, 24 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, May 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Egyptian antiquities authorities Saturday unveiled ancient workshops and tombs they say were discovered recently at a Pharaonic necropolis just outside the capital Cairo.

The spaces were found in the sprawling necropolis of Saqqara, which is a part of Egypt’s ancient capital of Memphis, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the workshops had been used to mummify humans and sacred animals. They date back to the 30th Pharaonic Dynasty (380 BC to 343 BC) and Ptolemaic period (305 BC to 30 BC), he said.

Inside the workshops, archaeologists found clay pots and other items apparently used in mummification, as well as ritual vessels, Waziri said.

The tombs, meanwhile, were for a top official from the Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt, and a priest from the New Kingdom, according to Sabri Farag, head of the Saqqara archaeological site.

Culture

Iconic Beirut Museum Reopens 3 Years after Massive Damage from Port Blast

Guests tour the Sursock Museum's exhibitions after relaunching an opening event for the iconic venue in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, May 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Guests tour the Sursock Museum's exhibitions after relaunching an opening event for the iconic venue in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, May 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
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Iconic Beirut Museum Reopens 3 Years after Massive Damage from Port Blast

Guests tour the Sursock Museum's exhibitions after relaunching an opening event for the iconic venue in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, May 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Guests tour the Sursock Museum's exhibitions after relaunching an opening event for the iconic venue in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, May 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Lebanon’s Sursock Museum has reopened to the public, three years after a deadly explosion in Beirut's port — set off by tons of improperly stored chemicals — reduced many of its treasured paintings and collections to ashes.
The reopening Friday night offered Beirut residents a rare bright spot in a country reeling from a crippling economic crisis that has left around three-quarters of Lebanon's population of 6 million in poverty.
Originally built as a private villa in 1912 on a hilltop overlooking the city’s Ashrafieh neighborhood, the opulent residence integrated Venetian and Ottoman styles. Its owner, famed Lebanese art collector Nicolas Ibrahim Sursock, bequeathed his beloved home to his people, to be tuned into a contemporary art museum upon his death in 1952.
The museum housed Lebanese art dating back from the late 1800s, including the work of distinguished painter Georges Corm and Fouad Debbas’ library of 30,000 photographs — one of the largest private photo collections. The photos are from across the Levant, a region encompassing countries along the eastern Mediterranean, from Turkey to Egypt, from 1830 until the 1960s. In 2008, a seven-year project renovated and expanded the museum, relaunching it in 2015.
But the Aug. 4, 2020 blast in Beirut's port — only about 800 meters (875 yards) away — hit the museum fully front on. Its stained glass windows were shattered, doors were blown out, and almost half the artwork on display was damaged. The explosion ripped through much of Beirut, killing more than 200 people and injuring over 6,000.
The destruction was unprecedented, said museum director Karina El Helou, a level unseen even during Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war. Seventy percent of the building was badly damaged, as were 66 of the 132 art pieces on display, she said. Glass shards tore through Dutch artist Kees Von Dongen’s portrait of Nicolas Sursock.
Two months after the explosion, then-museum director Zeina Arida launched a fundraising campaign, estimating the damages to be around $3 million at the time. The museum eventually raised over $2 million to restore the building and the artwork with support from Italy, France, UNESCO and various private organizations.
The restoration was long and painstaking work. Sursock's portrait was taken to Paris, along with two other art pieces, and restored there. Experts from Lebanon and abroad flocked to the museum to piece together damaged terracotta sculptures and fix tears and scratches that had marred the paintings. Dust and debris from the explosion were carefully removed to bring back the splendor of many items.
“White powder from the blast that we saw everywhere in Beirut even reached our storage room four stories underground," The Associated Press quoted El Helou as saying. She hopes the reopening will boost the morale of many Lebanese amid the country's economic meltdown — and offer a “safe space” for free expression.
Art is now more important than ever, she added. “In the face of darkness, (artists) fought through art and culture," she said.
Dozens gathered in Sursock's large, tree-lined courtyard on Friday evening, serenaded by a choir and a band performing on the entrance stairs for the reopening. The museum, looking almost exactly as it did before the blast, drew sighs of appreciation. Others remembered how much Beirut has withered since then and how scores of artists have left the country.
“I now hope all the friends of the Sursock who may have left Lebanon in recent years at least come back to visit us,” the museum's chairman, Tarek Mitri, told The Associated Press as he greeted guests.
The Sursock Museum was not the only art space damaged in the port explosion and restored in the years since.
Marfa Projects, a gallery close to one of the port's entrances, was eventually rebuilt and reopened. Others, like the Saifi Urban Gardens, a family run hostel that over the years has become a vibrant cultural hub with art studios and an exhibition space, were destroyed and closed for good.
Without financial support, many heritage buildings, including Ottoman-era houses built in the 19th century and damaged in the blast, could ultimately be sold to developers. Lebanon's cash-strapped government has been unable to fund major restoration projects.
Mona Fawaz, professor of urban studies and planning at the American University of Beirut, said the Sursock Museum's ability to raise funds through its networks and management is a valuable lesson for others.
“I think it's good to think of it as potentially one of our rare success stories,” Fawaz said.
At Friday's reopening, visitors could view five new exhibitions of both classical and modern art — a testament to Lebanon's artistic and cultural history and the perseverance of its people despite the country's troubled past.
One of the exhibits, titled “Ejecta,” is set up in a darkened room where a video and an audio recording reflect on the port blast. Zad Moultaka, the artist behind the installation, said he hoped it would inspire people to turn their dark thoughts about that day into hope for the future.
“Throughout the days of the civil war, we always found a way to rise up," he said.
"But my initial feeling after the blast was doubt. I wondered if we will be able to persevere after what happened," Moultaka added.

Culture

Saudi Arabia Achieves Two Advanced Places in Khalifa Award for Education

Saudi Arabia Achieves Two Advanced Places in Khalifa Award for Education
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Saudi Arabia Achieves Two Advanced Places in Khalifa Award for Education

Saudi Arabia Achieves Two Advanced Places in Khalifa Award for Education

Saudi Arabia has achieved two advanced places at the Arab world level in the 16th session of Khalifa Award for Education, announced in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Nuha bint Mohammad Al-Rifaei from Makkah Education Directorate won the Khalifa Award for Creative Teacher in Public Education, while Qassim University has won an Excellence Award in Educational Research.

The Khalifa Award for Education is among the most prestigious awards in the Arab world, aiming to enhance education in the region by honoring and rewarding distinguished educators.

Culture

Saudi Darah, Iraq’s NLA Agree to Exchange Copies of Historic Documents

Saudi Darah, Iraq’s NLA Agree to Exchange Copies of Historic Documents
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Saudi Darah, Iraq’s NLA Agree to Exchange Copies of Historic Documents

Saudi Darah, Iraq’s NLA Agree to Exchange Copies of Historic Documents

King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives (Darah) and Iraq National Library and Archives (NLA) have agreed to exchange copies of documents and historic references to enhance the national archive of each of the two countries.

Darah and Iraq’s Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities, represented by the NLA, signed an extension of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that they had signed in Riyadh on March 31, 2021.

The signing today emanates from the two sides’ aspiration to activate the articles of the MoU, which stipulated the necessity of signing subsequent agreements to clarify mechanisms and expenditures.

Darah CEO Turki bin Mohamed Al-Shuwaier and Iraq Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Ahmed Fakkak Al-Badrani signed the extension to the MoU.

The two sides agreed to exchange copies of documents and other historical references related to the history of the countries to support their national archives, state news agency SPA reported.

They agreed on the mechanism for exchanging historical and documentary references, scientific publications, and documentaries to promote cultural and historical diversity and introduce the national identity of both brotherly countries.

Also, they agreed on exchanging visits between specialists and technicians of both sides in the fields of documentation, indexing, electronic archiving, digital preservation and restoration and preservation of documents with the aim of acquiring expertise and expanding knowledge in the technical field.

The two sides agreed to exchange invitations to hold documentary exhibitions and joint seminars in accordance with the national events in each country.

They also agreed on the formation of a joint committee between the two parties, which includes experts and specialists to set up a mechanism to follow up on implementation rates and open new cooperation horizons.

Culture

Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace, Pontifical Academy for Life Sign MoU

The Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace signed an MoU with the Pontifical Academy for Life, establishing a collaborative partnership. WAM
The Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace signed an MoU with the Pontifical Academy for Life, establishing a collaborative partnership. WAM
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Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace, Pontifical Academy for Life Sign MoU

The Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace signed an MoU with the Pontifical Academy for Life, establishing a collaborative partnership. WAM
The Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace signed an MoU with the Pontifical Academy for Life, establishing a collaborative partnership. WAM

The Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace signed an MoU with the Pontifical Academy for Life - a Pontifical Academy of the Roman Catholic Church dedicated to promoting the Church's consistent life ethic- establishing a collaborative partnership focused on addressing ethical issues in R&D.

The MoU was signed as Shaikh Abdullah bin Bayyah, Chairman of the UAE Fatwa Council and Head of the Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace met in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday President of the Pontifical Academy for Life Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia,
The meeting emphasized the importance of collaborative action for peace based on appreciating shared human values and beliefs, as well as reinstating peace ideals and friendship principles rather than strife and conflict.

Paglia said during the meeting that the Emirati model of tolerance is one that other nations should take cues from, lauding what he observed in the UAE as the practical embodiment of the virtues of tolerance and human fraternity and maintaining the values of life and human dignity.

Culture

Last Emperor of China’s Watch Sells for Record $6.2 Mln in Hong Kong Auction

The Patek Philippe Ref 96 Quantieme Lune timepiece once owned by Aisin-Gioro Puyi, the Chinese Qing dynasty’s last emperor (R), is seen on display in Hong Kong on May 23, 2023 ahead of its auction in the territory on the same day. (AFP)
The Patek Philippe Ref 96 Quantieme Lune timepiece once owned by Aisin-Gioro Puyi, the Chinese Qing dynasty’s last emperor (R), is seen on display in Hong Kong on May 23, 2023 ahead of its auction in the territory on the same day. (AFP)
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Last Emperor of China’s Watch Sells for Record $6.2 Mln in Hong Kong Auction

The Patek Philippe Ref 96 Quantieme Lune timepiece once owned by Aisin-Gioro Puyi, the Chinese Qing dynasty’s last emperor (R), is seen on display in Hong Kong on May 23, 2023 ahead of its auction in the territory on the same day. (AFP)
The Patek Philippe Ref 96 Quantieme Lune timepiece once owned by Aisin-Gioro Puyi, the Chinese Qing dynasty’s last emperor (R), is seen on display in Hong Kong on May 23, 2023 ahead of its auction in the territory on the same day. (AFP)

A watch that was once owned by the last emperor of China's Qing Dynasty, whose life formed the basis of the Oscar-winning film "The Last Emperor," sold for a record HK$49 million ($6.2 million) at a Hong Kong auction on Tuesday.

An Asian collector residing in Hong Kong calling on the phone bought the rare Patek Philippe watch that had belonged to Aisin-Gioro Puyi, according to the auction house.

The hammer price, which excludes the buyer's premium fee, was HK$40 million ($5.1 million).

Thomas Perazzi, head of watches at auction house Phillips Asia, told Reuters that it is "the highest result" for any wristwatch that once belonged to an emperor.

It was one of only eight known Patek Philippe Reference 96 Quantieme Lune timepieces and was gifted by Puyi to his Russian interpreter when he was imprisoned by the Soviet Union, the auction house said. It easily beat a pre-sale estimate of $3 million.

Other watches owned by emperors and sold at auction include a Patek Philippe timepiece that belonged to the last Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie, which sold for $2.9 million in 2017.

A Rolex watch that belonged to the last emperor of Vietnam, Bao Dai, fetched $5 million at an auction in 2017.

Born in 1906, Puyi was the last emperor of China's Qing dynasty, who began his reign at two years old.

After Japan’s defeat in World War II in 1945, Puyi was captured at China's Shenyang Airport by the Soviet Red Army. He was detained as a war prisoner and incarcerated in a detention camp in Khabarovsk, Russia, for five years.

The auction house said it spent three years collaborating with watch specialists, historians, journalists, and scientists to research the watch's history and verify its provenance.

Perazzi told Reuters that the watch was the finest Patek made at the time.

Journalist Russell Working, who interviewed Puyi's interpreter Georgy Permyakov in 2001, said he gave the watch to Permyakov on his last day in the Soviet Union, shortly before he was extradited back to China.

“These were the kind of things he sometimes did to people that were very special to him,” Working said.

Culture

Records of French Slaves Inscribed on UN World Heritage Register

French President Emmanuel Macron (2-R) visits the Chateau de Joux during a ceremony marking the 175th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in France, in La Cluze-et-Mijoux, near Besancon, eastern France, on April 27, 2023. (AFP)
French President Emmanuel Macron (2-R) visits the Chateau de Joux during a ceremony marking the 175th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in France, in La Cluze-et-Mijoux, near Besancon, eastern France, on April 27, 2023. (AFP)
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Records of French Slaves Inscribed on UN World Heritage Register

French President Emmanuel Macron (2-R) visits the Chateau de Joux during a ceremony marking the 175th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in France, in La Cluze-et-Mijoux, near Besancon, eastern France, on April 27, 2023. (AFP)
French President Emmanuel Macron (2-R) visits the Chateau de Joux during a ceremony marking the 175th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in France, in La Cluze-et-Mijoux, near Besancon, eastern France, on April 27, 2023. (AFP)

Several hundred documents and items revealing the names and other details of victims of slavery in France’s colonial empire is being added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World register.

This latest addition, which the UN cultural agency approved last week, marks the first time that France has pushed for the inscription of documents on the UNESCO register that were previously archived in France's present-day overseas territories.

The Memory of the World register was set up in 1992 "to safeguard the documentary heritage of humanity against collective amnesia, neglect, decay over time," according to UNESCO.

The documents date from between the 17th and 19th centuries, from places including the modern-day nations of Haiti, Mauritius and Senegal and the French overseas territories of Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Mayotte, Martinique and Reunion.

They represent just a fraction of some 4 million people "enslaved in the French colonial empire, whether victims of trafficking or born locally into a status of servitude," according to the French Foundation for the Memory of Slavery that lobbied for the inscription.

"These generations of women, men and children lived there without civil status, but not without traces," the foundation said Tuesday in a statement.

The records include documents in the administrative, fiscal or religious sphere that feature the victim's name, age, sex, professional skills, and sometimes his or her physical characteristics.

The records have for years been kept by the Territorial Archives of Martinique and French Guiana, the Departmental Archives of Guadeloupe, Reunion, the Overseas National Archives and the National Archives of Haiti.

Culture

New Madrid Museum Set to Unveil Five Centuries of Spain’s Royal Collections 

A general view of the museum is pictured at the Royal Collections Gallery in Madrid, Spain, Friday, May. 19, 2023. (AP) 
A general view of the museum is pictured at the Royal Collections Gallery in Madrid, Spain, Friday, May. 19, 2023. (AP) 
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New Madrid Museum Set to Unveil Five Centuries of Spain’s Royal Collections 

A general view of the museum is pictured at the Royal Collections Gallery in Madrid, Spain, Friday, May. 19, 2023. (AP) 
A general view of the museum is pictured at the Royal Collections Gallery in Madrid, Spain, Friday, May. 19, 2023. (AP) 

It’s not as if Madrid was short on world-ranking galleries with the likes of the Prado Museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Reina Sofía, among others.

But next month, Spain is set to unveil what is touted as one of Europe’s cultural highlights of the year with the opening in the Spanish capital of The Royal Collections Gallery. The swanky new museum will feature master paintings, tapestries, sculptures, decorative art pieces, armory and sumptuous royal furniture collected by Spanish monarchs over five centuries, spanning the empire's Hapsburg and Bourbon dynasties.

"This is the biggest museum project in Spain in decades, and also in Europe," says Ana de la Cueva, President of the Patrimonio Nacional, a government body that runs the Gallery.

Unlike many other monarchies, Spain's Royal Collections do not belong to the crown but to the public, thanks to a historical twist nearly a century ago. Now, Patrimonio Nacional oversees palaces, monasteries, convents, and royal gardens across the country.

For Gallery director Leticia Ruiz, bringing together such a variety of extraordinary pieces makes it something of "a museum of museums."

The inaugural exhibition will feature 650 of the more than 150,000 pieces Patrimonio Nacional manages, including works from Velázquez, Goya, Caravaggio, Titian and Tintoretto. Also featured will be some pieces from the world’s best tapestries collection as well as ancient carriages and royal furniture. A third of the works will be replaced with new exhibitions each year.

Ruiz says the Gallery will offer visitors a unique vantage point of "the history of the Royal Palaces that are fundamental to the history of Spain and the world."

One standout piece is Velázquez’s "White Horse," rearing up and without a rider, suggesting the court painter was just waiting to be told which king to put in the saddle.

Nearby, the light and facial expressions in Caravaggio’s 1607 "Salome with the Head of John the Baptist" are equally captivating. The painting is one of the just four Caravaggios in Spain.

Then there is the multicolored cedar wood sculpture of Saint Michael slaying the Devil, a 1692 work by Spain’s first female court sculptor Luisa Roldán. It is known that she carved the devil in the likeness of her husband and that she, herself may have been the model for Michael.

On the same floor is the first edition of Cervantes' "Don Quijote."

"For many centuries, the Spanish monarchs were the best collectors in history," said De la Cueva. Being able to buy and order from the best artists in the world "was a way of showing their power."

Built on the steep hillside opposite Madrid's Royal palace and the Almudena Cathedral, the Gallery building itself is an impressive work of art.

Designed by Luis Mansilla and Emilio Tuñón, its unimposing vertical linear structure has won 10 architectural awards, including the 2017 American Architecture Prize.

Unseen from street level, it descends seven floors. In the Hapsburg rooms you are greeted by four gigantic baroque Solomonic faux marble wooden columns with gilded vines that once belonged to a Madrid church.

What makes the Gallery particularly special is its incorporation of Madrid’s ninth century Islamic foundation after archeologists came across part of the city’s Moorish wall during construction.

Madrid was originally called Mayrit in Arabic and its Islamic rulers built a fortress to protect the nearby center of power, Toledo. Following the reconquest of Spain by the Catholic monarchs, Madrid was converted into Spain’s royal court and capital in 1561 by Felipe II.

Álvaro Soler Del Campo, archaeologist and Chief Curator of the Royal Armory, says Madrid "is the only current capital of the European Union that preserves a fragment of its first (founding) walls" as well as being the only European capital city that has Islamic origins.

The initial idea of building a museum to house the Crown’s collections arose during Spain’s anti-monarchy Second Republic between 1931 and 1939. The leftist government seized the royal properties but protected them under a new agency that preceded the Patrimonio Nacional.

The republic was flattened during a rebellion by late dictator Gen. Francisco Franco and other Catholic Nationalist officers that started the three-year Spanish Civil War and heralded in some four decades of dictatorship at its end in 1939.

Two decades after Franco’s death and the return to democracy, the initiative for a museum was taken up again in 1998. But it took another 25 years, 172 million euros ($186 million) and several government changes before the ambitious project could be finished.

Ruiz says the novelty of seeing such artistic beauty in such a modernist building will appeal to visitors.

"What we want to do is capture them as soon as they enter, and I think we are going to do that," she said.

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia will inaugurate the Gallery June 28, after which it will be open to the public, free of charge for the first few days.