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‘Historic Jeddah’ Development Project Proceeding According to Int'l Sustainable Standards

A view shows the carved wood panels decorating the facades of traditional buildings of the Old City in the center of the Saudi Arabian Red Sea port city of Jeddah, 2 August 2007. (Getty Images/AFP)
A view shows the carved wood panels decorating the facades of traditional buildings of the Old City in the center of the Saudi Arabian Red Sea port city of Jeddah, 2 August 2007. (Getty Images/AFP)
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‘Historic Jeddah’ Development Project Proceeding According to Int'l Sustainable Standards

A view shows the carved wood panels decorating the facades of traditional buildings of the Old City in the center of the Saudi Arabian Red Sea port city of Jeddah, 2 August 2007. (Getty Images/AFP)
A view shows the carved wood panels decorating the facades of traditional buildings of the Old City in the center of the Saudi Arabian Red Sea port city of Jeddah, 2 August 2007. (Getty Images/AFP)

The implementation of the “Historic Jeddah” Development Project is progressing steadily according to international sustainability standards, reported the Saudi Press Agency on Saturday.

The project is part of the plan to transform the ancient town into a hub for business, culture, and innovation and a destination for entrepreneurship, and to upgrade the living standards of its residents and visitors.

The first phase of the “Historical Jeddah Rejuvenation” Project calls for carving out the waterfront that had previously been filled to accommodate the city’s urban expansion.

During the second phase, Lake Al-Arbaeen’s water will be treated and purified, and infrastructure will be built for a new urban area and waterfront.

The third phase includes building a marina for luxury yachts, open green spaces, pedestrian overpasses, and public utilities to create a sustainable urban environment for Jeddah’s Al-Balad (downtown) area.

The project is part of the Kingdom leadership’s keenness on preserving and rehabilitating the country’s historic sites as part of the objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030 to reflect the Kingdom's Arab and Islamic heritage.

The Historic Jeddah (Al-Balad) is home to more than 600 heritage buildings, 36 historical mosques, five major historical markets, ancient alleys and squares, and sites of prime historic significance, including the old waterfront, which was a major route for pilgrims since the dawn of Islam.

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Cyprus Displays Jewelry, Early Christian Icons and Bronze Age Antiquities Once Looted From Island

A presidential security officer stands behind antiquities repatriated from Germany and put on display at the Archeological museum, in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, July 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
A presidential security officer stands behind antiquities repatriated from Germany and put on display at the Archeological museum, in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, July 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
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Cyprus Displays Jewelry, Early Christian Icons and Bronze Age Antiquities Once Looted From Island

A presidential security officer stands behind antiquities repatriated from Germany and put on display at the Archeological museum, in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, July 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
A presidential security officer stands behind antiquities repatriated from Germany and put on display at the Archeological museum, in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, July 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Cyprus on Monday put on display artifacts — some of them thousands of years old — that were returned after a Turkish art dealer looted them from the ethnically divided island nation decades ago.
Aydin Dikmen took the artifacts from the country's breakaway north in the years after Cyprus’ split in 1974, when Turkiye invaded following a coup mounted by supporters of union with Greece. The antiquities were kept in Germany after authorities there seized them in 1997, and protracted legal battles secured their repatriation in three batches, the last one this year.
Addressing the unveiling ceremony at Cyprus' archaeological museum, President Nikos Christodoulides said the destruction of a country’s cultural heritage as evidenced in recent conflicts becomes a “deliberate campaign of cultural and religious cleansing that aims to eliminate identity.”
Among the 60 most recently returned artifacts put on display include jewelry from the Chalcolithic Period between 3500-1500 B.C. and Bronze Age bird-shaped idols.
Antiquities that Dikmen also looted but were returned years ago include 1,500-year-old mosaics of Saints Luke, Mark, Matthew and James. They are among the few examples of early Christian works to survive the Iconoclastic period in the 8th and 9th centuries when most such works were destroyed.
Cyprus' authorities and the country's Orthodox Church for decades have been hunting for the island’s looted antiquities and centuries-old relics from as many as 500 churches in open auctions and on the black market.
The museum's antiquities curator, Eftychia Zachariou, told the ceremony that Cyprus in recent years has benefited from a shift in thinking among authorities in many countries who now opt to repatriate antiquities of dubious provenance.