عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Culture

‘Year of The Camel’ Saudi Initiative Celebrates Arabian Peninsula’s Cultural Heritage

‘Year of The Camel’ Saudi Initiative Celebrates Arabian Peninsula’s Cultural Heritage
TT
TT

‘Year of The Camel’ Saudi Initiative Celebrates Arabian Peninsula’s Cultural Heritage

‘Year of The Camel’ Saudi Initiative Celebrates Arabian Peninsula’s Cultural Heritage

Saudi Arabia is celebrating 2024 as the “Year of The Camel” to honor the special cultural role of the camel, known as the “ship of the desert.”

The year-long initiative will showcase the camel’s importance through various cultural, literary, recreational, and sports events organized by the Ministry of Culture and its partners.

The camel has been a key part of life in the Arabian Peninsula for centuries, influencing its culture, society, and economy. Despite modern advancements, the camel continues to symbolize the region’s traditions and values.

The ministry has kicked off the “Year of The Camel” with a series of events across the Kingdom. This initiative celebrates the camel’s long-standing role in Saudi life and explores its cultural and historical significance.

At the ministry’s pavilion in City Walk, part of Jeddah Season, visitors can enjoy a unique exhibit with seven sections. The display highlights the camel's cultural importance, traditional practices, historical legacy, and economic value, while promoting international cultural exchange.

Visitors at the “Year of the Camel” exhibition at the Madinah Book Fair. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Fahad Shaheen, a guide at the ministry’s pavilion in City Walk, Jeddah, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the exhibit is attracting more visitors daily from diverse backgrounds.

People are eager to experience camel sounds, view rock carvings, and learn about camel names and decorations.

In Madinah, the “Year of The Camel” pavilion at the Book Fair, which opened on Tuesday, offers a 3D display of camel features, names, and historical significance. It invites visitors to explore the importance of camels in Arabian culture and showcases different camel breeds and their unique traits.

Visitors are seen at the “Year of the Camel” exhibition at the Madinah Book Fair. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia is actively working to develop its camel industry by raising awareness of camels' role in providing food and livelihood.

Efforts include increasing production, fighting diseases with regular vaccinations, and improving marketing of camel products to raise breeders’ income. The country is also partnering with international organizations to update regulations and systems related to camel activities.

A parade by the Saudi Camel Club during the Kingdom’s 93rd National Day. (SPA)

Moreover, Saudi Arabia has joined the United Nations FAO in launching the “International Year of the Camelids - 2024.”

This initiative underscores the Kingdom’s focus on camels for food security and economic growth. To highlight the camel’s role in culture and society, Saudi Arabia introduced the “Camel Studies Grant,” covering six key areas related to camels.

The Kingdom takes pride in its rich and diverse cultural history, which is a key part of its national identity. Saudi Arabia blends tradition with modernity, offering a unique cultural experience and a deep historical legacy to the world.

Most Viewed

 
 
Culture

Prince Mohammed bin Salman Project Restores Century-Old Uqlat Al-Suqur Mosque in Qassim

The renovation utilized traditional mud, stone, and wood to preserve the mosque's authentic Najdi architectural style. (SPA)
The renovation utilized traditional mud, stone, and wood to preserve the mosque's authentic Najdi architectural style. (SPA)
TT
TT

Prince Mohammed bin Salman Project Restores Century-Old Uqlat Al-Suqur Mosque in Qassim

The renovation utilized traditional mud, stone, and wood to preserve the mosque's authentic Najdi architectural style. (SPA)
The renovation utilized traditional mud, stone, and wood to preserve the mosque's authentic Najdi architectural style. (SPA)

The Prince Mohammed bin Salman Project for the Development of Historical Mosques has completed the restoration of the Uqlat Al-Suqur Mosque in Qassim Region, revitalizing a heritage landmark dating back to 1922, reported the Saudi Press Agency on Saturday.

Originally the only mosque in the area, it served as a vital religious and social hub for education and community governance.

The renovation, executed by specialized Saudi firms, utilized traditional mud, stone, and wood to preserve its authentic Najdi architectural style.

The project increased the mosque's area to 544 square meters, expanding its capacity to 250 worshippers while maintaining its historical identity.

The initiative aligns with Vision 2030 to preserve the Kingdom's urban heritage and boost the cultural and religious significance of its historical mosques for future generations.

Culture

Tomb More Than 1,000 Years Old Found in Panama

This handout picture released by Panama’s Ministry of Culture shows an archaeologist working inside a pre-Hispanic tomb approximately 1,200 years old, discovered at the El Cano Archaeological Park in Cocle, Panama, on February 20, 2026. (Handout / Panama’s Ministry of Culture / AFP)
This handout picture released by Panama’s Ministry of Culture shows an archaeologist working inside a pre-Hispanic tomb approximately 1,200 years old, discovered at the El Cano Archaeological Park in Cocle, Panama, on February 20, 2026. (Handout / Panama’s Ministry of Culture / AFP)
TT
TT

Tomb More Than 1,000 Years Old Found in Panama

This handout picture released by Panama’s Ministry of Culture shows an archaeologist working inside a pre-Hispanic tomb approximately 1,200 years old, discovered at the El Cano Archaeological Park in Cocle, Panama, on February 20, 2026. (Handout / Panama’s Ministry of Culture / AFP)
This handout picture released by Panama’s Ministry of Culture shows an archaeologist working inside a pre-Hispanic tomb approximately 1,200 years old, discovered at the El Cano Archaeological Park in Cocle, Panama, on February 20, 2026. (Handout / Panama’s Ministry of Culture / AFP)

Archaeologists have discovered a tomb more than a thousand years old in Panama containing human remains alongside gold and ceramic artifacts, the lead researcher told AFP on Friday.

The discovery was made at the El Cano site in the Nata district about 200 kilometers (124 miles) southwest of Panama City.

Scientists and archaeologists have already unearthed other remains of pre-Hispanic cultures in the region that has been excavated for two decades.

The skeletal remains were found surrounded by gold objects and pottery decorated with traditional motifs, pointing to these being "high-ranking" individuals, archaeologist Julia Mayo told AFP, adding that the tomb was built between 800 and 1000 AD.

"The individual with the gold was the one with the highest social status in the group," she said.

That body was found with two bracelets, two earrings, and pectoral jewelry that featured bats and crocodiles, she added.

The El Cano archaeological site is linked to the societies that inhabited the central provinces of Panama between the 8th and 11th centuries.

"This is where they buried their dead for 200 years," said Mayo.

Nine other tombs "similar" to the one found on Friday had already been found at the site, she added.

Panama's Ministry of Culture said the discovery was "of great importance for Panamanian archaeology and the study of pre-Hispanic societies of the Central American isthmus," referring to the land that connects North and South America.

According to experts, these excavations demonstrate that death did not represent an end for these societies, but a transition to another phase where social status remained important.

Culture

When in Rome: Budapest Pizzeria Offers Time-Travel Twist with Ancient Rome-Inspired Pie

László Bárdossy, head chef of the Neverland Pizzeria adds topping on the restaurant's Roman-era pizza in Budapest, Hungary, on Feb. 11, 2026. (AP)
László Bárdossy, head chef of the Neverland Pizzeria adds topping on the restaurant's Roman-era pizza in Budapest, Hungary, on Feb. 11, 2026. (AP)
TT
TT

When in Rome: Budapest Pizzeria Offers Time-Travel Twist with Ancient Rome-Inspired Pie

László Bárdossy, head chef of the Neverland Pizzeria adds topping on the restaurant's Roman-era pizza in Budapest, Hungary, on Feb. 11, 2026. (AP)
László Bárdossy, head chef of the Neverland Pizzeria adds topping on the restaurant's Roman-era pizza in Budapest, Hungary, on Feb. 11, 2026. (AP)

In Hungary’s capital, a city best known for its goulash, a pizzeria is inviting diners to travel back two millennia to a time before tomatoes, mozzarella or even the word “pizza” were known in Europe.

At Neverland Pizzeria in central Budapest, founder Josep Zara and his team have created a limited-edition pie using only ingredients that would have been available in ancient Rome, long before what we know today as pizza ever existed.

“Curiosity drove us to ask what pizza might have been like long ago,” Zara said. “We went all the way back to the Roman Empire and wondered whether they even ate pizza at the time.”

Strictly speaking, they did not. Tomatoes arrived in Europe centuries later from the Americas, and mozzarella was as yet unknown. Some histories have it that the discovery of mozzarella led directly to the invention of pizza in Naples in the 1700s.

But Romans did eat oven-baked flatbreads topped with herbs, cheeses and sauces, the direct ancestors of modern pizza, which were often sold in ancient Roman snack bars called thermopolia.

In 2023, archaeologists uncovered a fresco in Pompeii depicting a focaccia-like flatbread topped with what appear to be pomegranate seeds, dates, spices and a pesto-like spread. The image made headlines around the world, and sparked Zara’s imagination.

“That made me very curious about what kind of flavor this food might have had,” he said. “That’s where we got the idea to create a pizza that people might have eaten in the Roman Empire, using only ingredients that were in wide use at the time.”

Zara began researching Roman culinary history, consulting a historian in Germany as well as the ancient cookbook De re coquinaria, thought to have been authored around the 5th century. Following his research, he compiled a list of historically documented ingredients to present to the pizzeria's head chef.

“We sat down to imagine what we might be able to make using these ingredients, and without using things like tomatoes and mozzarella,” Zara said. “We had to exclude all ingredients that originated from America.”

Head chef László Bárdossy said the constraints forced the team into months of experimentation, and a few false starts.

“We had to discard a couple ideas,” Bárdossy said. “The fact that there wasn’t infrastructure like a water system at the time of the Romans made things difficult for us, since more than 80% of pizza dough is water. We had to come up with something that would have worked before running water.”

The solution: helping the dough rise using fermented spinach juice. Ancient grains such as einkorn and spelt, widely cultivated in Roman times, formed the base, and the dough ended up slightly more dense than that of most modern pizzas.

The finished pie is topped with ingredients associated with Roman aristocratic cuisine, including epityrum, an olive paste, garum, a fermented fish sauce ubiquitous in Roman cooking, confit duck leg, toasted pine nuts, ricotta and a grape reduction.

“Our creation can be called a modern pizza from the perspective that we tried to make it comprehensible for everyone,” Bárdossy said. “Although we wouldn’t use all its ingredients for everyday dishes. There is a narrow niche that thinks this is delicious and is curious about it, while most people want more conventional pizza, so it’s not for everyday eating. It’s something special.”

For Zara, the project reflects Neverland Pizzeria’s broader philosophy.

“We’ve always liked coming up with new and interesting things, but tradition is also very important for us, and we thought that these two things together suit us,” he said.

However, he added, there is a modern boundary the restaurant will not cross.

“We do a lot of experimentation with our pizzas. But of course, we definitely do not use pineapple,” he said.