عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Riyadh Season 2022 Kicks off with Shows 'Beyond Imagination'

Boulevard World part of Riyadh Season 2022 (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Boulevard World part of Riyadh Season 2022 (Asharq Al-Awsat)
TT
TT

Riyadh Season 2022 Kicks off with Shows 'Beyond Imagination'

Boulevard World part of Riyadh Season 2022 (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Boulevard World part of Riyadh Season 2022 (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Entertainment Authority (GEA), Turki Al-Sheikh, announced on Wednesday the launching of the Riyadh Season 2022 under the slogan “Beyong Imagination”, which will kick off on Oct. 21 with an international event featuring the world-acclaimed Cirque du Soleil.

Al-Sheikh explained that the new season would consist of 15 areas, including the Boulevard World, which would display restaurants, markets and arts from several regions around the world, including America, France, Greece, India, China, Spain, and Japan, Morocco, Mexico, in addition to the Italian city of Venice.

The Boulevard World will also include the world’s largest artificial lake, allowing visitors to enjoy riding submarines for the first time in Riyadh.

Al-Sheikh said that visitors would also enjoy a number of special attractions, such as the Kombat Village and the Superhero Village, in addition to a cable car that allows movement between the Boulevard World and the Boulevard Riyadh City, with a capacity of up to 3,000 visitors per hour.

As for the Boulevard Riyadh City, which was present in the past seasons, Al-Sheikh said that it has been expanded to include 12 new restaurants and cafes, in addition to 25 Arab and international plays, including seven Saudi plays.

Al-Sheikh indicated that the Winter Wonderland area returns this year with five new attractions. This season will also feature the Riyadh Zoo, with more than 1,300 animals of 190 species.

With the World Cup kicking off next month, Al-Sheikh announced that the Riyadh Season would include the Fan Festival zone at Mrsool Park that would accommodate 20,000 fans for each game, in parallel with exhibitions on late football star Diego Maradona and the Newcastle Club.

Other sports events will be happening this year, including the Riyadh Season Cup that will bring together Paris Saint-Germain F.C. and players from Al Hilal SFC and Al-Nassr FC, in addition to WWE matches.

Most Viewed

 
 
Varieties

A Rare Plant Emits a Stink of Death When it Blooms. Thousands in Australia Queued to Get Close to It

People view an endangered plant known as the “corpse flower” for its putrid stink, which is about to bloom at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
People view an endangered plant known as the “corpse flower” for its putrid stink, which is about to bloom at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
TT
TT

A Rare Plant Emits a Stink of Death When it Blooms. Thousands in Australia Queued to Get Close to It

People view an endangered plant known as the “corpse flower” for its putrid stink, which is about to bloom at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
People view an endangered plant known as the “corpse flower” for its putrid stink, which is about to bloom at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

The rare unfurling of an endangered plant that emits the smell of decaying flesh drew hundreds of devoted fans to a greenhouse in Sydney on Thursday where they lined up to experience a momentous bloom -– and a fragrance evoking gym socks and rotting garbage.
Tall, pointed and smelly, the corpse flower is scientifically known as amorphophallus titanum — or bunga bangkai in Indonesia, where the plants are found in the Sumatran rainforest, The Associated Press said.
But to fans of this specimen, she’s Putricia -- a portmanteau of “putrid” and “Patricia” eagerly adopted by her followers who, naturally, call themselves Putricians. For a week, she has graced a stately and gothic display in front of a purple curtain and wreathed in mist from a humidifier at the Royal Sydney Botanic Garden.
Her rise to fame since has been rapid, with more than 13,000 admirers filing past for a moment in her increasingly pungent presence. No corpse flower has bloomed at the garden for 15 years.
A slow bloomer The plant only flowers every 7-10 years in the wild.
“The fact that they open very rarely, so they flower rarely, is obviously something that puts them at a little bit of a disadvantage in the wild,” said garden spokesperson Sophie Daniel, who designed Putricia's kooky and funereal display. “When they open, they have to hope that another flower is open nearby, because they can’t self-pollinate.”
There are thought to be only 300 of the plants in the wild and fewer than 1,000 worldwide — including those in cultivation. Among them is Putricia, which arrived at the garden seven years ago.
When her flower was spotted in December she was just 25 centimeters (10 inches) high. By Thursday, she was 1.6 meters (5 feet 3 inches) tall -– and her flower spike was slowly opening like a pleated skirt around a majestic central tuber, the yellow-green outer curling to reveal a burgundy center.
Putricia-mania builds As excitement grew in Sydney about the moment of her bloom, garden staff erected crowd barriers, giving the Victorian greenhouse the air of a rock concert. Fans trod a red carpet to view Putricia from behind velvet ropes in a display inspired by Queen Victoria’s funeral, the Rocky Horror Picture Show and the oeuvre of the late director David Lynch.
Inside, fans took selfies and leaned in for a sniff — an increasingly perilous prospect as Putricia's odor developed. One young woman raised her hands and bowed as though in worship. On social media, garden staff performed a viral dance to Chappell Roan’s summer hit HOT TO GO! against a backdrop of the stately plant.
It was difficult to say why the regal, mysterious and stinky flower had attracted such a following -– but perhaps the answer lay in the “reverence” viewers felt in the presence of “such an amazing living being,” Daniel said.
A swift rise to online fame Along with her real-life visitors, Putricia’s online fandom has been rapid, global and deeply strange -– if much less smelly. A 24/7 live stream established by the botanic garden drew close to a million views in less than a week and a shared language of memes and inside jokes sprang up.
Frequently deployed acronyms included WWTF, or we watch the flower, WDNRP -- we do not rush Putricia – and BBTB, or blessed be the bloom. “Putricia is a metaphor for my life,” wrote one poster, who did not elaborate.
Commenters on social media made plans to hurry to the garden as the plant opened. In just 24 hours, Putricia’s bloom -– and her stench -– would be gone.
As she unfurled, Putricia would heat to 37 degrees Celsius (100 F) to better spread her scent, Daniel said, attracting flies and carrion beetles to burrow inside and lay eggs. Then, work will begin to hand-pollinate the plant in efforts to ensure the species' diversity and survival.
But first, thousands of Putricians will attempt to get as close as they can to their hero of a week.
“We did have a few conversations early on about whether or not we should have vomit bags in the room," said Daniel, adding that garden staff ultimately decided against it. “I haven’t heard of anyone actually being harmed."