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Saudi Arabia Aims to Transform Industrial Heritage into Cultural Destinations

The Saudi Heritage Commission officially registered the Tapline oil pipeline as the country’s first industrial heritage site (SPA). 
The Saudi Heritage Commission officially registered the Tapline oil pipeline as the country’s first industrial heritage site (SPA). 
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Saudi Arabia Aims to Transform Industrial Heritage into Cultural Destinations

The Saudi Heritage Commission officially registered the Tapline oil pipeline as the country’s first industrial heritage site (SPA). 
The Saudi Heritage Commission officially registered the Tapline oil pipeline as the country’s first industrial heritage site (SPA). 

Saudi Arabia is stepping up efforts to preserve and repurpose its industrial heritage sites, with an ambition to join the ranks of countries that have long recognized the cultural and social value of industrial landmarks.

The Kingdom sees these sites not only as reminders of its industrial beginnings but also as potential cultural destinations that can enrich communities, attract visitors, and support national development.

Industrial heritage refers to the achievements of the post-Industrial Revolution era and includes factories, mills, mines, workshops, warehouses, and transport infrastructure, along with the housing, schools, and religious buildings that grew around them. These sites embody not just technological progress, but also the social, architectural, and economic dimensions of industrial growth.

Khalid Al-Humaidi, a Saudi heritage specialist, said that growing recognition of the importance of cataloging and preserving these sites has fueled significant progress in recent years. Dedicated researchers have been mapping and documenting historic industrial landmarks across the Kingdom, laying the groundwork for their potential inclusion in global heritage lists, including UNESCO.

He stressed that such initiatives are vital in connecting younger generations to their national heritage. By recognizing industrial sites as part of Saudi Arabia’s cultural legacy, the country can foster a stronger sense of identity and historical awareness.

Al-Humaidi also urged greater investment in restoring these landmarks to their original condition, while promoting them through media platforms and cultural initiatives. He called for allowing visitors to explore sites directly, under proper safeguards, and suggested developing souvenirs and miniature models to strengthen public engagement.

The Ministry of Culture launched its Industrial Heritage Program in 2019 to build a national framework for preserving Saudi Arabia’s industrial legacy. The program highlights the role of factories and industrial infrastructure in shaping the country’s economic and social development and seeks to reposition them as cultural and tourism destinations.

To raise awareness, the ministry organized a national competition encouraging Saudis to discover and document industrial sites. The initiative spotlighted a range of landmarks linked to the Kingdom’s industrial growth, while broadening public understanding of what industrial heritage represents.

One of the most notable achievements came in 2020, when the Saudi Heritage Commission officially registered the Tapline oil pipeline as the country’s first industrial heritage site. Built in 1948 by order of King Abdulaziz, the pipeline once connected the Eastern Province to northern Saudi Arabia, symbolizing the dawn of the Kingdom’s oil industry. Its registration followed a decision by cultural and energy authorities to halt its removal, allowing it to be preserved and studied.

Another example is JAX District in Diriyah, northwest of Riyadh. Once an industrial warehouse zone, it has been transformed into a creative hub hosting galleries, studios, and cultural spaces. Today, it stands as one of Riyadh’s most dynamic artistic communities, showcasing how industrial heritage can be repurposed for modern cultural life.

 

 

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Varieties

Japan Police Investigate Another Suspected Fatal Bear Attack

Brown bears at Hexentanzplatz Zoo are given fruit in ice to cool off during a heatwave, in Thale, Germany, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Matthias Bein/dpa via AP)
Brown bears at Hexentanzplatz Zoo are given fruit in ice to cool off during a heatwave, in Thale, Germany, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Matthias Bein/dpa via AP)
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Japan Police Investigate Another Suspected Fatal Bear Attack

Brown bears at Hexentanzplatz Zoo are given fruit in ice to cool off during a heatwave, in Thale, Germany, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Matthias Bein/dpa via AP)
Brown bears at Hexentanzplatz Zoo are given fruit in ice to cool off during a heatwave, in Thale, Germany, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Matthias Bein/dpa via AP)

Japanese police are investigating another suspected fatal bear attack, a local official told AFP on Tuesday, as the number of such deaths remains unusually high.

Bear attacks have been on the rise in Japan in recent years, something scientists attribute to a spike in the animals' population and a declining number of people in rural areas.

Authorities in northern Aomori prefecture said on Monday that a man found dead on a mountain that day may have been attacked by a bear.

"Police are still investigating the cause" of the man's death, but bear bite marks had been found on his body, a local official told AFP on Tuesday, not giving his name in line with common practice in Japan.

Fatal maulings in the last three months have jumped fivefold compared to last year, according to government data.

Five people have died due to bear attacks since April, according to separate statistics from the environment ministry.

Publicly available ministry data, dating back to the fiscal year ending March 2018, shows that this year is the first to see more than two deaths in the period from April to June.

A record 13 people were killed by bears in Japan last year, and there has been a jump in encounters as the animals emerge hungry from hibernation.

In the year to March, bear sightings nationwide topped 50,000 -- more than double the previous record set two years earlier, according to official data.

Earlier this month, dozens of police officers, hunters and city officials were deployed in the city of Utsunomiya, north of Tokyo, to catch a bear that roamed the streets for four days, forcing mass school closures.

In the Fukushima region this month, a bear attacked four people at two factories and in a residential area, before escaping hunters.

Varieties

Bird Nests of Fiber-Optic Cables Show War’s Impact on Ukraine

Bird's nests made with fragments of optic fiber, which were found by a Ukrainian serviceman on the front line and then passed to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, lie on a table in a museum, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 23, 2026. (Reuters)
Bird's nests made with fragments of optic fiber, which were found by a Ukrainian serviceman on the front line and then passed to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, lie on a table in a museum, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 23, 2026. (Reuters)
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Bird Nests of Fiber-Optic Cables Show War’s Impact on Ukraine

Bird's nests made with fragments of optic fiber, which were found by a Ukrainian serviceman on the front line and then passed to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, lie on a table in a museum, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 23, 2026. (Reuters)
Bird's nests made with fragments of optic fiber, which were found by a Ukrainian serviceman on the front line and then passed to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, lie on a table in a museum, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 23, 2026. (Reuters)

Woven from fiber-optic cable and grass, a small bird's nest found near the front line of the war in Ukraine shows how the more than four-year-old conflict is reshaping the natural environment, researchers say.

Areas along the 1,200-km (746-mile) front line are covered with ultra-thin fiber-optic cables, which are used by Ukrainian and Russian troops to guide aerial attack drones to make them impervious to electronic jamming.

The cables, which can stretch for 20 km, lie tangled in trees and scattered across fields and on the rooftops ‌of towns in ‌Ukraine's frontline regions, glistening in the sunlight like giant spider ‌web.

Birds ⁠have begun repurposing ⁠the discarded cables to weave their nests, says Yana Hrynko, a senior researcher at Kyiv's War Museum, cautiously examining two delicate nests which the armed forces sent to the museum from the front line.

"Objects such as bird nests with fragments of optic fiber demonstrate the change in the nature of war," said Hrynko.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 with tanks, armored vehicles and artillery. Trying to counter ⁠Russia's advantage in such conventional equipment, Ukraine has poured resources ‌into developing aerial drones. Drones now dominate ‌the battlefield.

Hrynko said researchers did not know which birds made the nests nor how they ‌had gathered the long cables.

"The first nest mainly contains dry grass ‌and fiber-optic cable. And it's pretty tightly twisted," she said.

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Reuters spoke to several Ukrainian servicemen in the frontline regions of Donetsk, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia who had found such nests and posted their pictures and videos online.

One of the two nests ‌will remain in Kyiv as a part of the War Museum's war collection, and the other will be sent ⁠for study in the ⁠Netherlands and later returned, researchers said.

Auke-Florian Hiemstra, a 33-year-old biologist based in the Dutch city of Leiden who specializes in artificial nest materials, said Ukraine had rich avian biodiversity and there were many species that could have built the nests.

"We're going to look for DNA traces still in a nest to determine who actually made the nest," she said. "I have never seen nests like this before - and I have seen many, many bird nests."

The impact of the fiber-optic on birds could be mixed, Hiemstra said. It could cause harm as the birds could become entangled but it could also benefit them by helping them make a strong nest. "And by documenting this nest, we're also documenting the impact of war on nature in Ukraine," Hiemstra said.

Varieties

France to Illuminate Statue of Liberty for US 250th Birthday

The lower Manhattan skyline, including the new One World Trade Center building at right, is shown as viewed from near the Statue of Liberty, Jan. 31, 2014, in New York. (AP)
The lower Manhattan skyline, including the new One World Trade Center building at right, is shown as viewed from near the Statue of Liberty, Jan. 31, 2014, in New York. (AP)
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France to Illuminate Statue of Liberty for US 250th Birthday

The lower Manhattan skyline, including the new One World Trade Center building at right, is shown as viewed from near the Statue of Liberty, Jan. 31, 2014, in New York. (AP)
The lower Manhattan skyline, including the new One World Trade Center building at right, is shown as viewed from near the Statue of Liberty, Jan. 31, 2014, in New York. (AP)

France will stage an elaborate light show at the Statue of Liberty to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States, the French consulate said Monday.

Described as a "monumental artistic creation," the show will be recorded in advance and broadcast by the ABC network at the start of its 25 hours of programming for Independence Day, July 4.

"The Statue of Liberty will be revealed to the public as it has never been seen before, in a staging designed to magnify its symbolic and emotional power," the consulate said.

"Our friendship goes back 250 years, it is still very strong, it runs deep, and that is why we wanted to do something significant," France's consul to New York Cedrik Fouriscot told AFP.

The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor was given to the United States by France in 1886, and is one of the country's most famous monuments.

France also dispatched its air force acrobatics team to the United States this month to mark the 250th anniversary.

On June 9, eight Alpha jets of the Patrouille de France filled the skies above Manhattan with the colors of the French tricolor -- soaring above the iconic statue.