عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Culture

Culture Ministry Launches Guide to Boost International Cultural Trade

The Saudi Culture Ministry will oversee the national pavilion with participation from several entities
The Saudi Culture Ministry will oversee the national pavilion with participation from several entities
TT
TT

Culture Ministry Launches Guide to Boost International Cultural Trade

The Saudi Culture Ministry will oversee the national pavilion with participation from several entities
The Saudi Culture Ministry will oversee the national pavilion with participation from several entities

The Ministry of Culture launched the guide to the international cultural trade journey in Saudi Arabia in a regulatory step aimed at enabling cultural exchange, facilitating the import and export of cultural goods and services, and boosting the presence of Saudi culture in regional and international markets, in line with the objectives of the National Culture Strategy under Saudi Vision 2030.

The guide provides a comprehensive framework outlining the international cultural trade journey across its various stages, beginning with an introduction to the cultural sector in the Kingdom and its sub-sectors, followed by an overview of import and export pathways, the identification of supporting and enabling entities, and related regulatory and operational guidelines, SPA reported.

The guide serves as a practical reference for stakeholders, including practitioners, creators, cultural companies, government entities, and investors.

The guide also addresses culture-related goods and services as vehicles for identity, values, and ways of life. It presents their classifications across various cultural sectors, including literature, publishing and translation, music, visual arts, film, theater and performing arts, heritage, museums, and other fields, while clarifying the regulatory and procedural requirements for cross-border trade to ensure compliance with regulations, protect cultural content, and safeguard intellectual property rights.

Publishing the guide is part of the ministry's efforts to build a sustainable cultural sector that diversifies the national economy, enhances the Kingdom's soft power through organized cultural exchange, and expands culture-related exports and imports within Saudi Arabia and around the world.

Most Viewed

 
 
Culture

Literature Commission Inaugurates Saudi Pavilion at Beijing International Book Fair 2026

The participation reflects Saudi Arabia's growing presence in the global publishing industry and its efforts to strengthen cultural ties with China. (SPA)
The participation reflects Saudi Arabia's growing presence in the global publishing industry and its efforts to strengthen cultural ties with China. (SPA)
TT
TT

Literature Commission Inaugurates Saudi Pavilion at Beijing International Book Fair 2026

The participation reflects Saudi Arabia's growing presence in the global publishing industry and its efforts to strengthen cultural ties with China. (SPA)
The participation reflects Saudi Arabia's growing presence in the global publishing industry and its efforts to strengthen cultural ties with China. (SPA)

Saudi Arabia’s Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission inaugurated on Wednesday the Kingdom’s pavilion at the Beijing International Book Fair 2026 that runs through June 21, reported the Saudi Press Agency.

The participation reflects Saudi Arabia's growing presence in the global publishing industry and its efforts to strengthen cultural ties with China.

CEO of the commission Dr. Abdullatif Al-Wasel said the pavilion aims to introduce Saudi literary and intellectual production to Asian audiences, highlight developments in the Kingdom's literature, publishing, and translation sectors, and raise awareness of the Saudi cultural scene through an accompanying program featuring panel discussions and poetry evenings with Saudi writers and intellectuals.

The commission also seeks to strengthen the presence of Saudi publishers in international forums and build professional partnerships with stakeholders in China's publishing industry, supporting opportunities for translation exchange and cultural cooperation, he added.

Culture

Louvre Museum ‘Running Out of Steam’, Says New Director

This photograph shows visitors, seen from the Sully wing, queuing in the Cour Napoleon by the pyramid designed by Chinese-US architect Ieoh Ming Pei, to enter the Louvre Museum in Paris on November 19, 2025. (AFP)
This photograph shows visitors, seen from the Sully wing, queuing in the Cour Napoleon by the pyramid designed by Chinese-US architect Ieoh Ming Pei, to enter the Louvre Museum in Paris on November 19, 2025. (AFP)
TT
TT

Louvre Museum ‘Running Out of Steam’, Says New Director

This photograph shows visitors, seen from the Sully wing, queuing in the Cour Napoleon by the pyramid designed by Chinese-US architect Ieoh Ming Pei, to enter the Louvre Museum in Paris on November 19, 2025. (AFP)
This photograph shows visitors, seen from the Sully wing, queuing in the Cour Napoleon by the pyramid designed by Chinese-US architect Ieoh Ming Pei, to enter the Louvre Museum in Paris on November 19, 2025. (AFP)

The Louvre museum is struggling to find funding to upgrade its ageing facilities, its new director said Wednesday, following a litany of problems that included a brazen $100-million jewellery heist.

"Despite its imposing majesty, despite the daily commitment of its staff, the Louvre is running out of steam," Christophe Leribault told a Senate committee.

"Its equipment and infrastructure are reaching the end of their life cycle."

Leribault, an art historian and museum director specializing in 18th-century art, took the helm in February, after his predecessor stepped down following an embarrassing daylight theft of imperial jewels in October that laid bare severe security failings.

Home to iconic pieces of art including Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa", the Louvre is the world's most visited museum, receiving around nine million visitors a year.

It is housed in a vast palace in central Paris on the banks of the Seine River, built over centuries by various French monarchs who at times used it as their official residence.

"Building-related emergencies are piling up, and we're facing a wall in terms of investments," Leribault said.

The museum had struggled with repeated strikes causing loss of revenue, a ticket fraud scheme that may have cost the museum 10 million euros ($11.7 million), a water leak, and other maintenance issues.

Culture

Monumental Cave Art on Paris’ Oldest Bridge Finally Opens, as the Public Steps and Sniffs Inside

Visitors walk into the artwork "The Pont Neuf Cave" by French street artist JR on the Pont Neuf bridge, Tuesday, June 16, 2026, in Paris, open to the public from June 15 to 28. (AP)
Visitors walk into the artwork "The Pont Neuf Cave" by French street artist JR on the Pont Neuf bridge, Tuesday, June 16, 2026, in Paris, open to the public from June 15 to 28. (AP)
TT
TT

Monumental Cave Art on Paris’ Oldest Bridge Finally Opens, as the Public Steps and Sniffs Inside

Visitors walk into the artwork "The Pont Neuf Cave" by French street artist JR on the Pont Neuf bridge, Tuesday, June 16, 2026, in Paris, open to the public from June 15 to 28. (AP)
Visitors walk into the artwork "The Pont Neuf Cave" by French street artist JR on the Pont Neuf bridge, Tuesday, June 16, 2026, in Paris, open to the public from June 15 to 28. (AP)

For weeks, a black mountain loomed over the Seine where Paris’ oldest bridge should have been. On Monday evening, its doors finally opened.

Inside, Paris smells different. The air carries the scent of earth after rain — damp ancient stone, cellar walls, perhaps a trace of smoke.

Visitors step from the bright riverfront into a dark passage lined with glowing photographs of caves, as a low electronic pulse seems to breathe through the walls.

Beneath it all, the old cobblestones of the Pont Neuf rise and fall underfoot.

The Pont Neuf Cavern, a monumental installation by French street artist JR — also known as the French Banksy — is free to enter around the clock through June 28.

Made largely from printed fabric and air, it transforms the 17th-century bridge into an artificial cavern rising 18 meters (59 feet) above the Seine.

“It feels like the city has disappeared,” said Léa Martin, a 22-year-old art student from Lyon on Tuesday. “You know the river is right outside, but for a moment you’re somewhere ancient.”

Paris steps in and sniffs history

The smell is central to the illusion.

Olfactory expert Sarah Bouasse created two shifting scents: drawing on geosmin and isoborneol, compounds associated with the aroma released when rain strikes dry earth.

It changes along the crossing: first wet earth and mineral dampness, then something warmer, smokier and faintly animal.

“Usually I cross here without looking up once,” said Michel Dupré, a 67-year-old retiree, blinking as he emerged into daylight. “Today I felt the stones under my feet. And smelled them too. It makes you walk like a child again.”

A sound installation by Thomas Bangalter, formerly of the French electronic duo Daft Punk, accompanies the work, filling the cavern with low rumbles, echoes and pulses.

Completed in 1607, the Pont Neuf — despite its name, “New Bridge” — is the oldest bridge still standing in Paris.

JR’s installation asks people to experience the familiar crossing through their noses, ears and feet.

It also pays tribute to Christo and Jeanne-Claude, whose 1985 wrapping of the bridge in pale golden fabric drew an estimated 3 million visitors.

Their work covered the Pont Neuf in light.

The dark side JR sends visitors into darkness.

“You enter into the darkness,” he has said, “and emerge into the light on the other side.”

Visitors can also raise their phones to activate an augmented-reality experience developed with tech company Snap.

Digital bats trail light through the cave, passing bodies leave ghostly traces and a dancer materializes in space.

JR has linked the work to Plato’s allegory of the cave, in which prisoners mistake shadows for reality. Today’s cave walls, he argues, are screens and the algorithms that shape what people see. Yet the installation’s strongest effects require no phone.

“It’s completely strange,” said Nadia Benali, 34, smiling beside the artificial cliffs. “Paris needs things that make people stop.”

When the cave closes, its fabric will be reused or recycled.

The mountain will vanish, traffic will return and the Pont Neuf — older than the French Revolution — will emerge into the light once more.