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Darb Zubaydah Brings Saudi Arabia, Iraq Together in UNESCO Heritage List

From the Darb Zubaydah pilgrimage trail (SPA)
From the Darb Zubaydah pilgrimage trail (SPA)
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Darb Zubaydah Brings Saudi Arabia, Iraq Together in UNESCO Heritage List

From the Darb Zubaydah pilgrimage trail (SPA)
From the Darb Zubaydah pilgrimage trail (SPA)

Darb Zubaydah (Zubaydah trail) was one of the most important historical routes in the Arabian Peninsula. It was taken by merchants in the past, and its importance greatly increased with the dawn of Islam, as it became one of the most prominent pilgrimage trails.

Today, the UNESCO is on the brink of adding the historical trail, once a meeting point for different civilizations, to its heritage list according to Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, who confirmed that his ministry, in cooperation with the Iraqi government, is trying to have Dar Zubaydah added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The minister explained that the trail, which extends over 1,400 km, is among the oldest trade routes in the Arabian Peninsula and have once been among the most prominent pilgrimage trails, as it facilitated cultural and commercial exchanges, adding that the Heritage Authority will work on reviving the historical trail which runs from Kufa to Makkah.

Darb Zubaydah trail is named after Zubaydah bint Jafar, wife of the Abbasid Caliph Harun Al-Rashid, for her charitable works on the numerous stations along the trail, which facilitated the pilgrims’ journey along the trail.

The Kingdom has had five Saudi sites approved in the World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which includes 962 heritage and natural sites around the world in 157 countries.

Efforts to revive Darb Zubaydah are being made within the framework of strengthening bilateral relations between Riyadh and Baghdad, which have intensified recently through official meetings and visits, and the signing of a number of agreements sponsored by the Saudi-Iraqi Coordination Council for the implementation of an array of joint initiatives and actions between the two countries.

Madain Saleh is the first Saudi heritage site that was registered in 2008. It was followed by Ad Diriyah in 2010 and the historic Jeddah in 2014. Later the Rock Art in the Hail Region and Al-Ahsa Oasis were enlisted in 2015 and 2018, respectively.

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Seating Plan for a Pope’s Funeral – It’s Complicated, or Compliqué

Police officers patrol as visitors queue to enter St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican, viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)
Police officers patrol as visitors queue to enter St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican, viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)
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Seating Plan for a Pope’s Funeral – It’s Complicated, or Compliqué

Police officers patrol as visitors queue to enter St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican, viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)
Police officers patrol as visitors queue to enter St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican, viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)

They may be the most powerful people on earth, but for the seating arrangement at Pope Francis' funeral on Saturday, all foreign leaders will play second fiddle to the Argentines and Italians and surrender to the whims of the French alphabet.

About 130 foreign delegations had so far expressed their desire to attend the funeral, the Vatican said on Friday, and more were expected to do so throughout the day. Those include around 50 heads of state who have been confirmed as attending, among them US President Donald Trump and 10 reigning monarchs.

Apart from the VIPs, hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend the funeral in St. Peter's Square, which starts at 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) on Saturday. Italian police have laid on one of the most complex security operations in decades.

The official delegations will sit at a section to the right of the altar at the top of the steps leading toward St. Peter's Basilica.

Pride of place goes to Argentina, Francis' native country, whose president, Javier Milei, will sit in the front row. Milei, a maverick right-wing libertarian, had heaped insults on Francis while he was campaigning in 2023, calling him an "imbecile who defends social justice". But the president shifted his tone after he took office that year.

Next comes Italy, the country that surrounds the Vatican and which agreed in 1929 to recognize its sovereignty as the world's smallest state. It gets the second-best seats in the VIP section also because the pope is bishop of Rome and primate of the Catholic bishops of Italy.

That is when the alphabet in French – still considered the language of diplomacy – kicks in for the other delegations. The countries following Italy are ordered according to their names in French and not in their native languages.

So, it is Etats Unis and not United States, Allemagne instead of Deutschland (Germany), and Pays-Bas instead of Nederland (The Netherlands).

Royalty will take precedence. Reigning monarchs -- expected to include royalty such as the kings and queens of Spain and Belgium and Prince Albert of Monaco -- will be seated in front of other heads of state.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said on Friday that no distinction would be made between Catholic and non-Catholic royalty for the seating order. After the royals come the remaining heads of state. Trump, who attracted criticism from Francis because of his immigration policies, will sit ahead of many other leaders because Etats Unis begins with an "E".

That alphabetic logic means that Trump - currently engaged in trying to get a peace deal in the war in Ukraine - will not be sitting near Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Former US President Joe Biden, who has been the target of constant criticism by Trump, is attending the funeral, but will not be part of the official US delegation, a diplomatic source said. This means Biden, a lifelong Catholic, should be sitting further back, with other VIPs.