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Saudi’s Al-Sayahid Desert Retreats in High Demand during King Abdulaziz Camel Festival

Al-Sayahid Desert retreats in Saudi Arabia are experiencing a significant increase in demand during the ongoing King Abdulaziz Camel Festival. (SPA)
Al-Sayahid Desert retreats in Saudi Arabia are experiencing a significant increase in demand during the ongoing King Abdulaziz Camel Festival. (SPA)
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Saudi’s Al-Sayahid Desert Retreats in High Demand during King Abdulaziz Camel Festival

Al-Sayahid Desert retreats in Saudi Arabia are experiencing a significant increase in demand during the ongoing King Abdulaziz Camel Festival. (SPA)
Al-Sayahid Desert retreats in Saudi Arabia are experiencing a significant increase in demand during the ongoing King Abdulaziz Camel Festival. (SPA)

Tents and hotel rooms in Saudi Arabia’s Al-Sayahid area, currently hosting the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, have reached full occupancy in the past few days due to increased demand driven by the pleasant weather and enhanced charm brought by rainfall, the Saudi Press Agency said on Sunday.
The festival's diverse events and associated activities have spurred a surge in the rental of tents and mobile rooms, which are now offering services akin to those of desert resort hotels.
Habish al-Habish, a camp renter interviewed by an SPA reporter, said there has been a significant increase in tent occupancy over the weekend, exceeding 100%. He highlighted the range of accommodation options available in the festival area, from standard rooms to desert resorts offering extensive services and organizing family events tailored to the region's ambiance.
The King Abdulaziz Camel Festival is a major global event that brings together camel enthusiasts and owners, showcases the heritage of the Arabian Peninsula, and emphasizes the cultural importance of camels in the Kingdom, reflecting Saudi pride in heritage, and the special significance of camels to the Saudi culture.

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From Orange Peels to Bottle Caps: Thousands of Artists Create Their Own ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’

Rob de Heer talks next to his artwork, one of 60 pieces exhibited and inspired by the famous "Girl with a Pearl Earring," painting by Johannes Vermeer, at The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP)
Rob de Heer talks next to his artwork, one of 60 pieces exhibited and inspired by the famous "Girl with a Pearl Earring," painting by Johannes Vermeer, at The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP)
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From Orange Peels to Bottle Caps: Thousands of Artists Create Their Own ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’

Rob de Heer talks next to his artwork, one of 60 pieces exhibited and inspired by the famous "Girl with a Pearl Earring," painting by Johannes Vermeer, at The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP)
Rob de Heer talks next to his artwork, one of 60 pieces exhibited and inspired by the famous "Girl with a Pearl Earring," painting by Johannes Vermeer, at The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP)

After sending its most famous work to be featured in Amsterdam’s blockbuster 2023 exhibition of nearly every work by Johannes Vermeer, the Mauritshuis museum found itself with a blank space where the iconic “Girl with a Pearl Earring” had been displayed.

The Hague-based institution turned to more than 2,700 artists, from Texas to Ukraine, from age 7 to 70, who created their own interpretations of the 17th-century masterpiece.

A selection of 60 works using materials ranging from orange peels to bottle caps to sweatshirts were exhibited in the museum while the painting was on loan 40 miles (64 kilometers) to the north.

“The submissions continue to come, it will never end with her,” Martine Gosselink, director of the Mauritshuis museum, told The Associated Press, pointing to the ongoing popularity of works featuring the mystery girl.

A 2020 investigation into the painting using a battery of modern imaging techniques uncovered details about Vermeer's methods and the makeup of his pigments, but not the young woman’s identity.

“I bring together the original The Girl with a Pearl and the face of a Wayang puppet,” artist Rob de Heer told the AP, standing in front of a screen in the museum’s foyer where all of the winning submissions are displayed.

De Heer, who primarily works with mixed media, wanted to take an image from the Golden Age history of the Netherlands and combine it with one evoking its colonial legacy. Wayang puppets are a traditional form of theater in parts of Indonesia, which was ruled by the Netherlands until 1949.

His surrealist work is followed in the rolling display by a piece featuring the original girl’s face superimposed on an antique tea tin.

Other submissions include works by South Korean artist Nanan Kang, who used an ear of corn for the face; Georgian artist Nino Kavazauri, who reimagined a modern girl waiting at a bus stop with a cup of coffee; and Simon Chong, a Welsh animator, who works on the popular television series “Bob’s Burgers” and created a girl in the show’s cartoon style.

The winners were displayed in a replica frame in the exact spot where “Girl with a Pearl Earring” usually hangs, between two portraits by Dutch Baroque painter Gerard ter Borch.

The popularity of the first competition prompted a second round and those submissions are now on display at the Fabrique des Lumières in Amsterdam. The museum continues to feature submitted works of art on its Instagram page.

Gosselink, who has been the museum’s director since 2020, said the breadth and depth of the works made it difficult to select who would be featured in the exhibition.

“I would dare to say that some of the ones we selected are new pieces of art, and they would be served very well in a new surrounding, like a museum," Gosselink said.