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Ithra Unveils 96th Saudi National Day Celebrations

The festival features a curated selection of Saudi films - SPA
The festival features a curated selection of Saudi films - SPA
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Ithra Unveils 96th Saudi National Day Celebrations

The festival features a curated selection of Saudi films - SPA
The festival features a curated selection of Saudi films - SPA

The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) will celebrate the 96th Saudi National Day with a five-day program of diverse cultural events running from September 22 to 26, inviting local and international visitors to explore the Kingdom's origins and future ambitions.

This year's National Day program centers on the theme "Glory Through Our People," exploring the evolution of culture and the blend of heritage and modernity.⁠‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​⁠ The celebrations kick off with a grand military parade, followed by a full program featuring 36 curated and distinct experiences designed to engage visitors, SPA reported.

​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌‌‌The event includes an examination of the unique architectural languages of the Kingdom's various regions in the "Inspired by Our Roots" workshop and also include "Saudi Calligraphy Art" sessions, where guests are invited to engage with the aesthetic power of Arabic script.

For those seeking immersive programs, Ithra is also integrating technology with "Pride Salute," a motion-sensing experience that translates military ceremonial movements into digital art, and a sonic experiment "Who Leads the Rhythm," that blends traditional Saudi instruments with contemporary electronic sounds to create innovative sounds.

The festival features a curated selection of Saudi films including ​‌‌‌‌​​‌‌"The Destination," a documentary film that showcases the Kingdom's transformative progress under Saudi Vision 2030, to new experimental films like Marjouj and Irtizaz.

At the Ithra museum, visitors can tour "Bedayat:⁠‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​⁠ The Beginning of the Saudi Art Movement," an exhibition tracing the evolution of the national art scene from the 1960s to the 1980s. The exhibition, which features some of the most renowned early Saudi artists, also includes archival materials and examines how Saudi art has transformed over the decades.

The celebrations include an open-air concert in Ithra's Lush Garden featuring live musical performances alongside traditional folk ensembles. The program showcases the diverse sounds of the rhythmic folk dances of the West and South: the Majrour of Taif, the Khabiti, the Khatwa of the South, and the Rayeh of Bisha, as well as​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​⁠ a traditional sword dance, the Ardah, and the Samri, a poetic, melodious performance.

Ithra, an initiative by Aramco, is a leading cultural destination in Dhahran. The center focuses on enriching people's lives by offering impactful cultural and creative programs and initiatives.

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Culture

Bones from Iraqi Cave Hint at Violence and Compassion in Neanderthals

The entrance to Shanidar Cave in Iraq's Kurdistan region, a site of important Neanderthal remains, is seen in an undated photograph released on October 15, 2026. Prof Graeme Barker/Handout via REUTERS
The entrance to Shanidar Cave in Iraq's Kurdistan region, a site of important Neanderthal remains, is seen in an undated photograph released on October 15, 2026. Prof Graeme Barker/Handout via REUTERS
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Bones from Iraqi Cave Hint at Violence and Compassion in Neanderthals

The entrance to Shanidar Cave in Iraq's Kurdistan region, a site of important Neanderthal remains, is seen in an undated photograph released on October 15, 2026. Prof Graeme Barker/Handout via REUTERS
The entrance to Shanidar Cave in Iraq's Kurdistan region, a site of important Neanderthal remains, is seen in an undated photograph released on October 15, 2026. Prof Graeme Barker/Handout via REUTERS

The bones of a Neanderthal from a cave in Iraq's Kurdistan region are offering evidence of both violence and compassion in the closest evolutionary cousins of our species, exhibiting a wound apparently from a fatal spear attack as well as signs of an earlier nonfatal injury that may have elicited kindly care.

Researchers have discovered at Shanidar Cave in the Zagros Mountains of northern Iraq a partial skeleton of a Neanderthal, aged in the mid-40s, that included a left shoulder blade, or scapula, with a circular hole six-tenths of an inch (15 mm) wide indicative of a deeply penetrating stab.

The bones of this individual, who they call Shanidar A, were unearthed from under about 25 feet (7.5 meters) of rocks and sediment inside the cave and date to about 75,000 years ago.

The researchers were unable to determine Shanidar A's sex.

According to Reuters, the researchers said the injury's shape suggests it was caused by a forceful thrust using a sharpened wooden spear, a type of weapon Neanderthals are known to have used, rather than a spear with a stone tip. It was a weapon employed in hunting large mammals that were an important food source.

"The ⁠spear would have ⁠gone through the skin and major muscles, especially the pectoralis, as well as the ribcage and muscles between the ribs, and the lung," said biological anthropologist Emma Pomeroy of the University of Cambridge in England, lead author of the study published on Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports.

"The location could be like the kind of 'heart shot' hunters use to kill animals quickly by puncturing the heart, but that is a bit speculative. We do see heart shots as a hunting strategy both today and in the archaeological record. Neanderthals would have known this would lead to a quick death," Pomeroy said.

University of Cambridge archaeologist and study co-author Graeme Barker, who has led Shanidar Cave excavations since 2015, said the likeliest scenario ⁠is interpersonal violence.

The researchers said the violence probably occurred either between members of a particular Neanderthal group or between members of rival Neanderthal groups, calling a Homo sapiens attack or an accidental injury less likely.

The researchers found shards of bone displaced by the weapon. The injury indicated that the spear entered from above with a downward trajectory, penetrating the left chest cavity from the front and traveling through the body before punching the hole in the scapula, causing quick death.

In addition to the scapula, the researchers found some ribs, a nearly complete right hand and seven teeth, mostly from the front of the lower jaw, belonging to Shanidar A. The teeth bore evidence that this Neanderthal had survived brutal injury at least a year before death — a blow to the face resulting in front teeth being smashed and lost. One tooth was split, with half remaining rotated in the mouth and others pushed out of position.

"The pain would have been extreme, and basic needs like eating and drinking would have been difficult, perhaps meaning Shanidar A needed food mashing and being able ⁠to rest. It's likely that Shanidar ⁠A did need some care from members of the group for some basic needs during recovery," Pomeroy said.

Shanidar A was one of five Neanderthals, four adults and one infant, whose bodies were carefully tucked behind a rock pillar in the cave in a burial cluster within a generation or so of each other. The cave was occupied by Neanderthals for tens of thousands of years as a seasonal campsite, and later by Homo sapiens.

Neanderthals were more robustly built than Homo sapiens, with larger brows. They lived as hunter-gatherers and inhabited Eurasia from the Atlantic coast to the Ural Mountains from about 400,000 years ago until a bit after 40,000 years ago, disappearing after Homo sapiens became established in the region.

The two species interbred, with modern non-African human populations bearing residual Neanderthal DNA.

The cave, overlooking the Great Zab river valley, has been a source of information about Neanderthals since the 1950s, with Shanidar A now offering new insight into their behavior.

"We see evidence of two contrasting facets of human nature – care and violence – juxtaposed in the same individual," Pomeroy said.

"We see evidence all around us today that violence and care are both aspects of how we humans behave, and we see this here in Shanidar A, too. Neanderthals were like us in many respects, both the good and the bad, and this find really highlights that, going against stereotypes of Neanderthals as unintelligent, uncaring cavemen and cavewomen," Pomeroy said.

Culture

Riyadh Art Program and Wrth Sign MoU to Strengthen Cooperation in Cultural and Creative Fields

The agreement aims to develop initiatives that bring together contemporary and traditional arts, serve the objectives of both parties, and enhance their cultural impact - SPA
The agreement aims to develop initiatives that bring together contemporary and traditional arts, serve the objectives of both parties, and enhance their cultural impact - SPA
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Riyadh Art Program and Wrth Sign MoU to Strengthen Cooperation in Cultural and Creative Fields

The agreement aims to develop initiatives that bring together contemporary and traditional arts, serve the objectives of both parties, and enhance their cultural impact - SPA
The agreement aims to develop initiatives that bring together contemporary and traditional arts, serve the objectives of both parties, and enhance their cultural impact - SPA

The Riyadh Art Program, one of the programs of the Royal Commission for Riyadh City, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Royal Institute of Traditional Arts "Wrth" to strengthen cooperation in cultural and creative fields.

The agreement aims to develop initiatives that bring together contemporary and traditional arts, serve the objectives of both parties, and enhance their cultural impact, SPA reported.

The MoU covers the development of joint creative initiatives that bring together contemporary and traditional arts through the exchange of expertise, art residency programs, and seasonal events.

It also includes cooperation to enhance the presence of both parties' projects and programs at relevant international events and forums.

Culture

Van Gogh Work Unseen in Public for 60 Years on Show in Hong Kong

Staff members pose with Vincent van Gogh's "Chataigniers en fleurs" (Chestnut Trees in Blossom) at a media preview ahead of its auction in New York, at Sotheby's in Hong Kong, China, October 13, 2026. REUTERS/Joyce Zhou
Staff members pose with Vincent van Gogh's "Chataigniers en fleurs" (Chestnut Trees in Blossom) at a media preview ahead of its auction in New York, at Sotheby's in Hong Kong, China, October 13, 2026. REUTERS/Joyce Zhou
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Van Gogh Work Unseen in Public for 60 Years on Show in Hong Kong

Staff members pose with Vincent van Gogh's "Chataigniers en fleurs" (Chestnut Trees in Blossom) at a media preview ahead of its auction in New York, at Sotheby's in Hong Kong, China, October 13, 2026. REUTERS/Joyce Zhou
Staff members pose with Vincent van Gogh's "Chataigniers en fleurs" (Chestnut Trees in Blossom) at a media preview ahead of its auction in New York, at Sotheby's in Hong Kong, China, October 13, 2026. REUTERS/Joyce Zhou

Hundreds of people queued on Tuesday outside a Hong Kong gallery to see a Vincent van Gogh painting on public display for the first time in six decades.

The Dutch artist's "Chataigniers en fleurs" ("Chestnut Trees in Blossom") was on show in Hong Kong ahead of its November 18 auction in New York, where it is expected to smash records and fetch around $180 million, according to Sotheby's.

It was one of 12 works owned by late Argentine collectors Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier and Carlos Pedro Blaquier. Others by Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Paul Cezanne will also go under the hammer.

The van Gogh, which according to Sotheby's was unseen by the public for over 60 years, portrays a blossoming chestnut tree with a solitary man walking past three women in Japanese attire.

Completed in 1890, it is from the last two months of van Gogh's life.

"It's one of the last, most expressive and hopeful works by van Gogh in this final phase of his career," Scott Niichel, a vice chairman at Sotheby's, told AFP.

It is one of approximately 70 works van Gogh created after leaving the psychiatric asylum of Saint-Remy, where he had created his famous "The Starry Night.”

During these final days of his life, van Gogh was producing at a frantic rate -- averaging around one work a day.

He died shortly after at the age of 37, two days after shooting himself in the chest following well-documented mental health struggles.

"This manic frenzy of paint application suggests he has so much more to give, and he's just racing to put it to canvas," Niichel said, noting the thickness of the paint layers.

"Orchard with Cypresses" set the current record for a van Gogh price point, selling for $117.2 million in a 2022 auction.

Niichel said that "anything is possible" for who might claim the painting in November.

"Our revealing in Hong Kong suggests that Asia is certainly a possibility."