Largest Cultural Park Opens in Saudi Arabia

Governor of the Makkah Region Prince Khalid Al Faisal inaugurates the largest cultural park in Saudi Arabia. (SPA)
Governor of the Makkah Region Prince Khalid Al Faisal inaugurates the largest cultural park in Saudi Arabia. (SPA)
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Largest Cultural Park Opens in Saudi Arabia

Governor of the Makkah Region Prince Khalid Al Faisal inaugurates the largest cultural park in Saudi Arabia. (SPA)
Governor of the Makkah Region Prince Khalid Al Faisal inaugurates the largest cultural park in Saudi Arabia. (SPA)

Prince Khalid Al Faisal, advisor to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, Governor of the Makkah Region, inaugurated on Thursday the largest cultural park in the west of Saudi Arabia. The opening was part of the Makkah Cultural Forum in its second edition, entitled "How to be a role model?"

The Cultural Park is located at Al-Nawras Square, on the waterfront of the coastal city of Jeddah, covering an area of ​​about 42,000 square meters.

It is one of the " Makkah Cultural Forum" programs and aims to make culture among of the most attractive options in tourism promotion campaigns and offer interactive knowledge and cultural ambiances for all the society’s segments.

It also aims to develop and promote the concepts of the “role model” and its applications, and introduce many events in the cultural, social, scientific, technical, technical and artistic areas.

The park includes a package of cultural activities, such as: electronic applications, interactive education, scientific innovations, skill festival, role model hall, robot world, exhibition of life on wheels and the role model in practicing marine sports. It also offers specialized workshops on the filming industry, as well as many accompanying shows organized by the Entertainment Authority.

As part of the cultural park event, which runs over 10 days (during the mid-year vacation), cultural competitions will be organized within a special pavilion, hosting and nominating cultural personalities who will be present at the forum.

As part of the cultural park initiative, the Ministry of Education is conducting a competitive scientific competition for all general education students to compete in design, programming and robot control.

The competition aims to spread robot culture among students and to link theoretical information with practical application, as well as rooting the idea of mass work and cooperative education among students from all categories.

The King Abdul Aziz University is participating through a corner on promoting the definition of talent, creativity and invention, and presenting real models of local and international award-winning students' innovations, as well as developing the skills of the visitors through interactive intelligence games.

The cultural garden initiatives offer a variety of activities related to the art of painting. The Ministry of Education offers an educational and recreational program that includes many activities such as free drawing, wood burning writing, water painting, etc., targeting all groups.

King Abdul Aziz University offers interactive activities for visitors and those interested in libraries and reading. These activities include the presentation of manuscripts and cultural books, participation in the recording of audio books, learning about the audio book program and teaching children how to make such books.



Ancient Egyptian Coffin Given New Life in Britain

Staff at Swansea University welcome back the artifact. Photo: Swansea University
Staff at Swansea University welcome back the artifact. Photo: Swansea University
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Ancient Egyptian Coffin Given New Life in Britain

Staff at Swansea University welcome back the artifact. Photo: Swansea University
Staff at Swansea University welcome back the artifact. Photo: Swansea University

An ancient Egyptian coffin was given a new life after it has been returned to Swansea University's Egypt Center in Wales.

The artifact, believed to date from about 650 BC, is now back at the university after thousands of hours of conservation work at Cardiff University, where it was painstakingly cleaned, reconstructed and consolidated to prevent it from deteriorating further, according to BBC.

The coffin, originally made for a man called Ankhpakhered in the Greek city of Thebes, was transported back under the watchful eye of the center’s curator Dr. Ken Griffin.

Staff described the finished project as “beyond our wildest dreams.”

“The coffin was gifted to us by Aberystwyth University in 1997 but details about its history are sketchy,” Griffin said.

He added: “It actually ended up being used as a storage box at one time, with other Egyptian objects placed in it for safekeeping.”

The university’s Phil Parkes explained that the wooden coffin was covered in textile and then had a thin layer of decorated plaster over the top.

He said: “Much of that textile had become detached over time and was just hanging loose.”

Parkes added that the separate wooden head was detached and there were a couple of large pieces of wood missing, the side of the base had fallen off and it was in a very sorry condition overall.