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Saudi Arabian Historic Gems under Global Microscope

Al-Ahsa Oasis joined the UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2018. (UNESCO).
Al-Ahsa Oasis joined the UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2018. (UNESCO).
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Saudi Arabian Historic Gems under Global Microscope

Al-Ahsa Oasis joined the UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2018. (UNESCO).
Al-Ahsa Oasis joined the UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2018. (UNESCO).

Riyadh’s embrace of the 45th session of the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee hosting 3,000 guests from 21 countries, highlights the deep civilizational roots of the Saudi heritage sites.The kingdom boasts six sites enlisted on the World Heritage List, three out of which will be visited by the committee’s representatives. The list is expected to include further sites that reflect the richness of the Saudi culture and heritage in different regions. During its meeting in Riyadh, the committee has studied proposals to add 50 new sites from around the world on its World Heritage List, which already features 1,157 sites in 167 countries.

Six History-rich Heritage Sites

The six Saudi sites featured on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List shed lights on the kingdom’s rich legacy consisting of many historic events and civilizations with esteemed history.

Al-Hijr Valley overlooks 153 stone structures

Wadi Al-Hijr or Al-Hijr Valley was the first Saudi site to join the World Heritage List. Located in northwestern Saudi Arabia, it overlooks 153 sculpted stone structures, Islamic antiquities, fortresses, and the remnants of the Hejaz Railway, which all witness on the different historic eras that Al-Hijr saw, and highlight its strategic location on the route connecting the south of the Arabian Peninsula to Mesopotamia, the Levant, and Egypt.The valley was one of the most prominent centers of the Nabatean Kingdom, which ruled the region until the 4th century AD, and the largest southern Nabatean settlement after Jordan’s Petra. The valley was also the capital of the Lihyanite Kingdom in the north of the Arabian Peninsula.In 2008, the site was the first Saudi site added on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

At-Turaif District ... cornerstone in the establishment of Saudi Arabia

Standing proudly in the heart of Diriyah, At-Turaif District is described as a historic gem whose mud walls reflect a bright history. It was the base of the First Saudi State, and the starting point of the country’s unification and the kingdom’s foundation.Surrounded by Wadi Hanifa, one of the most famed valleys in the Arabian Peninsula, At-Turaif District was established in the 15th century. It’s known for its unique Najdi architecture, and was the capital of the First Saudi State and a hub for trade and education.The district has maintained its unique architectural style boasting sturdy buildings and fortresses made of mud and palm branches that survived over the years. It has recently opened its doors as a tourism destination that takes visitors in a trip back to the early moments of the prospering Saudi entity.The historic district embraces the Salwa palace, extending over an area of 10,000 sqm, a historic landmark and a residence of the Al Saud princes and kings. Its name was inspired by its diverse functions, the palace was not only a residence, but also a center of entertainment for its old and current inhabitants.

Al-Balad, Jeddah... Window on the sea, history

Overlooking the Red Sea, the coastal city of Jeddah tells the story of a community with many experiences that cumulated over the years in Al-Balad area, also known as Historic Jeddah, which boasts unique architectural features and ancient houses that captivate visitors flocking from eight gates that each has its own significance and stories.Hundreds-year-old alleys, houses, and khans have formed the historic area from which the contemporary Jeddah has emerged, the charming city on the Red Sea coast that has become one of the brightest Arabic modern cities. The historic city, combined with the promising future and the spirit of great history, make the story of Jeddah, a historic center of Muslims since 647 AD.

Stone art in Hail

The sites of Jubbah, Rata and Al-Manjur in Hail, famed for exceptional stone engravings on their mountains, which dates back to more than 10,000 years BC, have joined the World Heritage List in 2015.Stone engravings can be seen everywhere on the mountains of Umm Senman, Rata and Al-Manjur area. The illustrations, dating back to prehistory, mostly the modern stone age (14,000 years before history) depict people and animals.

Al-Ahsa Oasis... Green Gem

Surrounded by over two million trees, Al-Ahsa Oasis enjoys a natural beauty and historic glare that have made it one of the largest palm oases in the world, and a historic and cultural witness on the ancient human in the Arabian Peninsula, how they adapted to the local environmental conditions and used the available tools to ensure a sustainable life.Located in eastern Saudi Arabia, the oasis includes historic sites, green parks, conventional irrigation channels and fresh water wells. It also features Al-Asfar Lake, the largest water compound in the Gulf region, where lives a complete fungi ecosystem.Alongside the unique natural landscapes, the oasis has many historic buildings and sites that reflect the history and cultural structure of the place, and shed lights on the human settlement in the Gulf region since the modern stone age. This unique cultural and natural landscape is an exceptional model on the interaction between human beings and their surrounding environment.

The Bir Hima Cultural Region ...largest stone art complex

The historic Bir Hima region in Najran, southern Saudi Arabia, is the sixth and last Saudi site that joined the UNESCO’s World Heritage List. It includes over 34 locations of stone engravings and wells that stretch along the route that convoys used to cross from the south to the north of the Arabian Peninsula.The 557-sqm art stone area in Bir Hima features 550 stone art structures with hundreds of thousands of engravings depicting hunting, animals, plants, and the lifestyles of a culture that spanned over 7,000 years.

Sites on the waiting list

In 2015, the UNESCO has added ten Saudi sites to its tentative list, a first step on the way to the World Heritage List, including Al-Ahsa Oasis, which was later upgraded to a World Heritage Site in 2018.Other Saudi sites are expected to join the list given their historic significance, such as the Damascene and Egyptian pilgrimage route, the Zubaydah Trail, the Hejaz Railway, and Qaryat Al Faw.

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Culture

Japanese Poet Shuntaro Tanikawa, Master of Modern Free Verse, Dies at 92

Shuntaro Tanikawa, a Japanese poet and translator, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Tokyo, on May 25, 2022. (AP)
Shuntaro Tanikawa, a Japanese poet and translator, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Tokyo, on May 25, 2022. (AP)
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Japanese Poet Shuntaro Tanikawa, Master of Modern Free Verse, Dies at 92

Shuntaro Tanikawa, a Japanese poet and translator, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Tokyo, on May 25, 2022. (AP)
Shuntaro Tanikawa, a Japanese poet and translator, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Tokyo, on May 25, 2022. (AP)

Shuntaro Tanikawa, who pioneered modern Japanese poetry, poignant but conversational in its divergence from haiku and other traditions, has died. He was 92.

Tanikawa, who translated the "Peanuts" comic strip and penned the lyrics for the theme song of the animation series "Astro Boy," died Nov. 13, his son Kensaku Tanikawa said Tuesday. He said his father died at a Tokyo hospital due to old age.

Shuntaro Tanikawa stunned the literary world with his 1952 debut "Two Billion Light Years of Solitude," a bold look at the cosmic in daily life, sensual, vivid but simple in its use of everyday language. Written before Gabriel García Márquez’ "One Hundred Years of Solitude," it became a bestseller.

Tanikawa’s "Kotoba Asobi Uta," or "Word Play Songs," is a rhythmical experiment in juxtaposing words that sound similar, such as "kappa," a mythical animal and "rappa," a horn, that makes for a joyful singsong compilation, filled with alliterations and onomatopoeia.

"For me, the Japanese language is the ground. Like a plant, I place my roots, drink in the nutrients of the Japanese language, sprouting leaves, flowers and bearing fruit," he said in a 2022 interview with The Associated Press at his Tokyo home.

Tanikawa explored the poetic, not only in the repetitive music of the spoken word but also the magic hidden in little things.

One of his works is titled, "I wanted to talk to you in the kitchen in the middle of the night."

"In the past, there was something about it being a job, being commissioned. Now, I can write as I want," he said.

In every work Tanikawa tackled, including the script for Kon Ichikawa’s "Tokyo Olympiad," a documentary film of the 1964 Tokyo Games, the respectful love for the beauty of the Japanese language resonates.

He also translated Mother Goose, Maurice Sendak and Leo Lionni. Tanikawa has in turn been widely translated, including English, Chinese and various European languages.

Some of his works were made into picture books for children, and they are often featured in Japanese school textbooks. He also incorporated Japanese words derived from foreign origins into his poems like Coca-Cola.

In his prose poem with that title, in which a boy is opening a Coke can, he wrote: "If, for instance, he saw the infinite universe that started or ended at the tip of his can, he was totally unaware of it. One might be able to opine that he named every bit of the unknown about to swallow him with all the vocabulary he could muster, which included his future vocabulary that was yet dormant in his subconscious."

In his debut poem that catapulted him to stardom, he is more sparse:

"Because the universe goes on expanding, we are all uneasy. With the chill of two billion light-years of solitude, I suddenly sneezed," is the way the poem ends, as translated by William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura.

When asked about it, Tanikawa acknowledged it felt as though someone else had written it, but noted he still thought it was a good poem.

"Tanikawa’s poetry reflects a metaphysical and quasi-religious attitude toward experience. In simple, spare language, he sketches profound ideas and emotional truths," according to the Poetry Foundation, a US literary organization.

Tanikawa was born in 1931, a son of philosopher Tetsuzo Tanikawa, and began writing poetry in his teens, circulating with the famous poets of that era, like Makoto Ooka and Shuji Terayama.

He said he used to think poems descended like an inspiration from the heavens. But, as he grew older, he felt the poems welling up from the ground.

In person, Tanikawa was friendly and unassuming, often reading in public with other poets. He never seemed to take himself too seriously but used to confess his one regret in life was never finishing his education, having dropped out amid stardom at a young age.

His relative isolation from the bleakly serious scholarly poetry scene of postwar Japan likely helped him take his free-verse approach that went on to innovate and define Japanese contemporary poetics.

Tanikawa said he wasn’t afraid of death, implying he perhaps meant to write a poem about that experience, too.

"I am more curious about where I will go when I die. It’s a different world, right? Of course, I don’t want pain. I don’t want to die after major surgery or anything. I just want to die, all of a sudden," he said.

He is survived by his son, musician Kensaku Tanikawa and daughter Shino and several grandchildren. Funeral services were held privately with family and friends. A farewell event in his honor is being planned, Kensaku Tanikawa said.

"As they did with all of you, Shuntaro’s poems stunned and moved me, making me chuckle or shed a tear. Wasn’t it all so fun?" he said. "His poems are with you forever."