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Saudi Arabia Hopes to Add More Sites to UNESCO World Heritage List

Dr. Jasir Al-Harbash, CEO of Saudi Arabia’s Heritage Commission. (Turky al-Agili)
Dr. Jasir Al-Harbash, CEO of Saudi Arabia’s Heritage Commission. (Turky al-Agili)
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Saudi Arabia Hopes to Add More Sites to UNESCO World Heritage List

Dr. Jasir Al-Harbash, CEO of Saudi Arabia’s Heritage Commission. (Turky al-Agili)
Dr. Jasir Al-Harbash, CEO of Saudi Arabia’s Heritage Commission. (Turky al-Agili)

After successfully adding the Al-Faw region to UNESCO's World Heritage list, Saudi Arabia is now aiming to register more sites to showcase their historical significance and attract global attention.

Dr. Jasir Al-Harbash, CEO of the Heritage Commission, revealed plans to add new sites on the international heritage list, including ancient pilgrimage routes like the Zubaydah trail, as well historic water systems and ancient Arabian oases.

These sites are valuable both historically and environmentally, featuring farms and freshwater springs.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Al-Harbash said Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 aims to register eight sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage list, a goal reached ahead of schedule. He assured that work is ongoing for other eligible sites.

“We have a plan to register several sites within a set timeframe. One of these involves collaboration with a neighboring country, aiming to exceed the targets outlined in Vision 2030,” noted Al-Harbash.

He highlighted several key Saudi sites under consideration for the World Heritage list. Among them are ancient pilgrimage routes, especially the Zubaydah trail, one of the seven main pilgrimage paths in the Arabian Peninsula, with a history of over 1,000 years.

Additionally, the National Center for Wildlife Development is leading efforts on a natural heritage file, which recently achieved recognition for the “Uruq Bani Ma’arid Protected Area,” designated in September 2023 as Saudi Arabia’s first natural World Heritage site.

Separately, the Saudi Cabinet designated 2025 as the “Year of Handicrafts” to celebrate their unique cultural value and highlight Saudi craftsmanship to the international community.

Al-Harbash praised the decision, calling it a recognition of the Ministry of Culture and the Heritage Commission’s dedication to this important sector.

During the “Year of Handicrafts,” the Ministry of Culture will work to increase the visibility of Saudi handicrafts both at home and abroad, and enable Saudi artisans to display their creations at events and activities in the Kingdom and the world over.

The initiative also aims to increase the contribution of Saudi handicrafts to the local economy and to raise awareness about their cultural, historical, civilizational, and economic significance.

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Hong Kong Museum Puts Picasso in Cross-cultural Dialogue

Artworks by Pablo Picasso are pictured during the media preview of 'Picasso for Asia: A Conversation' at M+ in Hong Kong. May JAMES / AFP
Artworks by Pablo Picasso are pictured during the media preview of 'Picasso for Asia: A Conversation' at M+ in Hong Kong. May JAMES / AFP
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Hong Kong Museum Puts Picasso in Cross-cultural Dialogue

Artworks by Pablo Picasso are pictured during the media preview of 'Picasso for Asia: A Conversation' at M+ in Hong Kong. May JAMES / AFP
Artworks by Pablo Picasso are pictured during the media preview of 'Picasso for Asia: A Conversation' at M+ in Hong Kong. May JAMES / AFP

More than a century ago, Pablo Picasso smashed the Sacre-Coeur Basilica in Paris into a web of tangled lines on his canvas, deconstructing reality with the brushstrokes of a master cubist.
At a Hong Kong exhibition opening Saturday, that painting will be shown alongside a more literal form of destruction -- a "gunpowder drawing" by Chinese-born artist Cai Guo-Qiang -- as part of a cross-cultural exchange, AFP said.
"Interest in (Picasso's) life and work hasn't subsided at all, including in Asia" in the half-century since his death, said Doryun Chong, artistic director and chief curator at the M+ museum.
The show will pair more than 60 masterpieces loaned from the Picasso Museum in Paris with around 130 works by Asian and Asian-diasporic artists.
Highlights include "Portrait of a Man" from Picasso's Blue Period, a 1937 horse head sketch for "Guernica" and "Massacre in Korea", a 1951 expressionist anti-war painting.
"Exhibitions on Picasso tend to be very monographic," said Chong, who co-curated the event.
"We felt that it's more productive for understanding Picasso... that we create these unexpected juxtapositions and dialogues."
Cecile Debray, president of the Picasso Museum in Paris, hailed the approach as being "decentered from the Western point of view".
The last major Picasso showcase in Hong Kong, a more straightforward affair, took place in 2012 and drew huge crowds.
In the intervening decade, Picasso's reputation has been dented by the #MeToo movement as critics decried his abusive treatment of wives and girlfriends.
"We are of course very open and honest about the rather disturbing aspects of his biography, but we also shouldn't let that determine the meanings of his whole career," Chong said.
Hong Kong officials have touted the four-month exhibition as part of "Art March", hoping that high-brow events at museums, fairs and auction houses can boost the city's international appeal.
Since opening in late 2021, M+ has seen more than eight million visitors -- a bright spot for Hong Kong's loss-making West Kowloon Cultural District.
Chong said the museum connects visual culture between Asia and the world, citing the example of how Picasso is placed next to self-taught local painter Luis Chan.
Chan, who drew ample inspiration from the Spanish master, was "of the older generation when formal training in art was not possible in Hong Kong".
"Still he felt connected to the center of the art world at the time in Paris, and the very important figure in that context (that is) Picasso."