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Saudi Culture Ministry to Feature at Venice Architecture Biennale 2025

Through a curated cultural program, the ministry will highlight the diversity of Saudi culture and its contemporary creative renaissance
Through a curated cultural program, the ministry will highlight the diversity of Saudi culture and its contemporary creative renaissance
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Saudi Culture Ministry to Feature at Venice Architecture Biennale 2025

Through a curated cultural program, the ministry will highlight the diversity of Saudi culture and its contemporary creative renaissance
Through a curated cultural program, the ministry will highlight the diversity of Saudi culture and its contemporary creative renaissance

The Saudi Ministry of Culture is set to host a comprehensive program of cultural events at the Abbazia building in Venice, Italy, from May 10 to November 23. This initiative is part of Saudi Arabia's participation in the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale.
Through a curated cultural program, the ministry will highlight the diversity of Saudi culture and its contemporary creative renaissance, while contributing to global discourse on key issues such as the preservation of cultural heritage and artistic innovation.
According to a statement issued by the ministry, the events will spotlight several cultural sectors, including architecture and design, heritage, visual arts, fashion, and culinary arts. The program will also feature panel discussions and workshops in traditional crafts and other fields, providing the international community with insights into the defining features of Saudi culture, its uniqueness, and its deep historical and civilizational roots.
The cultural activities will be held within the two-story Abbazia building. The ground floor will be dedicated to an exhibition titled "Rooted Transience", which forms part of the official collateral event in the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale and showcases the winning design of the AlMusalla Prize 2025.
The statement added that the upper floor of the venue will include a fully equipped conference hall, designated for the presentation of distinguished cultural programming throughout the Biennale period. These events will underscore Saudi Arabia's artistic and cultural excellence through collaborations with leading cultural and artistic institutions in Venice and across Italy.

A cultural retail space will also be available, featuring a curated selection of artisanal products representing Saudi heritage and premium culinary offerings such as traditional Saudi coffee and dates.
The cultural events organized by the Ministry of Culture as part of the 2025 Venice Biennale represent a key aspect of its ongoing efforts to strengthen Saudi culture's presence on international platforms and introduce the global community to the diversity of the Kingdom's cultural heritage and the aesthetic and creative vitality of its artistic scene, reflecting the cultural renaissance taking place in the Kingdom.

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UN: Most World Heritage Sites at Risk of Drought or Flooding

Muslim devotees offer Eid al-Adha prayers inside the complex of the Taj Mahal in Agra on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Punit Lal / AFP)
Muslim devotees offer Eid al-Adha prayers inside the complex of the Taj Mahal in Agra on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Punit Lal / AFP)
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UN: Most World Heritage Sites at Risk of Drought or Flooding

Muslim devotees offer Eid al-Adha prayers inside the complex of the Taj Mahal in Agra on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Punit Lal / AFP)
Muslim devotees offer Eid al-Adha prayers inside the complex of the Taj Mahal in Agra on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Punit Lal / AFP)

Almost three quarters of the globe's cultural and natural heritage sites are threatened by too little or too much water, the UN's cultural agency said on Tuesday.

As a result of rising temperatures, extreme weather events including hurricanes, droughts, floods and heatwaves have become more frequent and intense, scientists warn.

Seventy-three percent of all 1,172 non-marine sites on the UNESCO Heritage List are exposed to at least one severe water risk -- including water stress, drought, river flooding or coastal flooding, UNESCO said.

"Water stress is projected to intensify, most notably in regions like the Middle East and North Africa, parts of South Asia and northern China — posing long-term risks to ecosystems, cultural heritage, and the communities and tourism economies that depend on them," it added, according to AFP.

Cultural sites were most commonly threatened by water scarcity, while more than half of natural sites faced the risk of flooding from a nearby river, the UNESCO study showed.

In India, the Taj Mahal monument in Agra, for example, "faces water scarcity that is increasing pollution and depleting groundwater, both of which are damaging the mausoleum," the study said.

In the United State, "in 2022, a massive flood closed down all of Yellowstone National Park and cost over $20 million in infrastructure repairs to reopen."
The report gave four more examples.

Iraq's southern marshes -- the reputed home of the biblical Garden of Eden -- "face extremely high water stress, where over 80 percent of the renewable supply is withdrawn to meet human demand", it added.

And competition for water is expected to increase in the marshes, where migratory birds live and inhabitants raise buffalo, as the region grows hotter in coming years.

On the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, the Victoria Falls -- originally called Mosi-oa-Tunya ("the smoke that thunders") before it was renamed by Scottish explorer David Livingstone -- has faced recurring drought and is sometimes reduced to a trickle.

In Peru, the pre-Colombian city of Chan Chan and its delicate 1,000-year-old adobe walls face an extremely high risk of river flooding, UNESCO said.

In China, rising sea levels driven in large part by climate change are leading to coastal flooding, which destroys mudlands where migratory waterbirds find food, it added.