AlUla: A Cultural Legacy in the Making

Tomorrow marks National Day in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and we are celebrating it here in AlUla. Even after five years of living within this community, I am constantly moved by the rediscovery of the depth and richness of humanity through culture as it continues to be revealed across this vast region of Northwest Arabia.

There are many definitions of culture – but one way to describe it is as a journal of human achievement. Simply put, it is how we articulate our interaction with the world, and is what we leave behind. We understand the history of humanity through culture. The AlUla region,?encompassing the historic oases of AlUla, Khaybar, and Tayma—and home to 200,000 years of human history - is a living journal of epic and audacious cultural development tracing back thousands of years, and is now undergoing a regeneration of economic, environmental, and cultural dimensions to become the world’s largest living museum.?

To realise this ambitious goal and create a cultural destination for the future requires a cultural mandate and narrative, to ensure the story of the place and its character is imbued in every facet of our work. But what is AlUla’s story of the past? The present? And what story will it tell in the future??

AlUla is a place where leaps of human innovation and imagination driven by communities living in harmony with the natural landscape made the seemingly impossible, possible. Where, through a feat of water engineering, local dwellings of AlUla, Khaybar and Tayma became prominent oases of civilisation, with paths graduating into global gateways. Cultures collided and blurred, crafting new paradigms in art, language and knowledge.

The civilisations here were bold, fearless and enterprising. They travelled thousands of miles on the Incense Road to share languages, cultures and much sought-after luxury commodities that enabled local economies to thrive. They accumulated wealth and created complex societies, they crafted cities, and statues of kings, they developed new languages, carved deities into rock faces and designed enigmatic monuments reaching up towards the stars and celestial sphere. They were guided, inspired and made meaning from the cosmos revealing the deepest episodes of time.

It is this unique inheritance and exceptional environment that continues to fascinate and motivate the innovators, pioneers, creatives and artists of today who are engaging with the communities and landscapes of AlUla - stretching their creative capabilities and realising an ambitious cultural destination. These collaborations will continue to be nurtured with upcoming and established designers interpreting the aesthetics of AlUla into coveted designs of luxury, fashion, jewellery, perfume, buildings and interiors - a continuation of the legacy of the past, but instead of trading commodities we now exchange culture. Through these relationships, AlUla’s identity is being forged today with an emotional expression of cultural storytelling - storytelling that is communicated through the senses: sights, aromas, tastes, and sounds.?

As we write AlUla’s next chapters, culture will continue to be bold and unbound. We will continue to shed new light on the history and culture of three great oases of AlUla, Khaybar and Tayma in the Northwest of Saudi Arabia and nurture an evolving cultural and artistic vibrancy across our region, a legacy that encourages a new generation to recognise AlUla’s potential and a desire to protect and conserve its long-term future. Where opportunities for creativity are boundless, daring and transparent.?

The region will continue to develop as a living cultural journal, through these memorable partnerships and encounters, both local and global. Just as ancient travellers brought precious luxuries along the Incense Road and as Nabatean kingdoms carved their identity into our landscape, we are encouraging communities from near and far to craft and deliver AlUla's creative vision for the future and continue to build on a creative narrative that is bold, fearless and visionary in this incredible landscape, where heritage, nature and the arts invite discovery and enterprise at every level, continuing our cultural inheritance for the next generations.?

Our cultural mandate is therefore one of reconnection and renewal. It’s a story of crafting new chapters through the lens of arts, nature, heritage and hospitality to build a breath-taking cultural destination. We aim to continually unlock the potential of people towards a vibrant society and a thriving economy, positioning AlUla as a 21st century cultural crossroads...once again turning the seemingly impossible into a grand legacy.

Happy National Day!?