To the origins
The country's first Unesco World Heritage site,Hegra (Al-Hijr) is the most important testimony to Nabataean civilization after Petra in Jordan. The Nabataeans are famous for their monumental tombs carved directly from sandstone. Masters in the art of playing the sun's reflections off the rock to reveal its infinite variety of tones, the Nabataeans also developed an astonishing sense of decoration, blending their own creations with motifs and symbols borrowed from other cultures. Take, for example, the monumental Hellenistic-inspired porticoes; the Mesopotamian merlons or redans; or the Egyptian-style pyramidal structures. The tomb of Lihyan, son of Kuza, is one of the most famous on the site. The Nabataeans also demonstrated an innate sense of hydraulic engineering, digging hundreds of wells in the valley. This mastery of water is also to be found in the country's incredible oases. Occupied for millennia, the archaeological zone of the ancient Qaryat Al-Faw oasis is incredibly rich. It's hard not to be impressed by the astonishing, tapering stone structures with triangular or circular silhouettes, decorated with rock carvings and associated with tombs and cairns The oasis is also home to the remains of a perfectly coherent urban layout separating residential, commercial (souks) and religious zones. The latter includes a fascinating necropolis whose tomb-towers reflect the social hierarchy of the time, with the elite having imposing tombs built... as well as vast mansions, some of which have preserved beautiful decorative frescoes. Further north, the country is home to incredible fortified oases with a history stretching back thousands of years. For researchers, these fortifications illustrate the transition from a temperate to an arid, desert climate, requiring increased protection of springs and crops. Intended to protect against enemy raids, the fortifications were also designed to guard against the onslaught of this hostile climate. The Dumat Al-Jandal site is particularly striking, with its stone-built castle surrounded by some 15 wells, the deepest of which could reach 40 m (some even have staircases built into their masonry), and its clear urban "zoning" of stone buildings and mud houses lining narrow, shady alleys. Most often built on high ground, these fortified silhouettes were unmistakable from trade routes such as those marking the Hima cultural area. Punctuated by cairns, graves and wells, but also toll booths and urban settlements from which emerge imposing fortress-like caravanserais, square in plan, surrounded by high walls and arranged around a central courtyard, these caravan routes still retain a strong aura.
A unique architecture
In the Aseer region, the Heritage Village of Rijal Almaa is home to some very special multi-storey residences reminiscent of forts. Made of natural local stone, often highlighted with brilliant white quartz, clay and wood (especially for the balconies), these "palaces" give the village the appearance of a fortified city. In the Al Baha region, the Heritage Village of Zee Ain houses 2 to 4-storey dwellings in polished stone, with impressively thick load-bearing walls, a wooden frame system covered with stones, themselves protected with mud to reinforce insulation, and vast halls lined with stone columns. The old cities of Riyadh, Dariya and Khobar, as well as the village of Ushaiqer, bear witness to the structural and stylistic richness of Najdi architecture. This earthen architecture is entirely based on the principles of harmony and coherence. Zones and districts are divided according to their functions, and the public/private balance is respected throughout. To fully grasp the richness of this architecture, you need to wander through the labyrinth of alleys lined with astonishing residences. The first highlight is the entrance door (al-bab), whose degree of decorative refinement bears witness to the importance of the owner. Wood and metalwork, floral, geometric or calligraphic motifs, these doors can be veritable works of art. Now take a look at the exterior walls, and you'll no doubt see small, slightly protruding elements of wood or adobe, pierced at the bottom by small holes. Shaped like a semi-circle, square or triangle, these elements allow you to see without being seen. They're called tarma, the equivalent of our eyeholes or peepholes. If you look up, you'll discover alfuraj, small triangular-shaped openings at the top of the walls, which provide light and ventilation while respecting the privacy of the home. The patterns created by their alignment break up the massiveness and monotony of the exterior walls. The shuraf crown these harmonious earthen edifices. Made of adobe bricks, covered with local gypsum and painted with white plaster (as much to decorate as to protect from the rain), these gables can be of various shapes, but their tops must always point skywards. Elegant extensions of the roof, they offer shade and coolness to the houses' vast roof terraces. In the desert coastal plain of Tihama, it's not uncommon to come across round houses built from reeds and mud plaster and covered with a thatched roof. This architecture bears witness to the passage of African pilgrims and traders through the region. In other coastal areas, the walls of the houses were made from fossilized coral. The sublime and unclassifiable historic city of Jeddah, the Gateway to Mecca, has succeeded in blending these coastal traditions with borrowings from other techniques and know-how. The finest examples of this blend are the city's tower-houses, which can be recognized by their coral stone silhouettes and façades adorned with sumptuous, slightly projecting pieces of carved wood, reminiscent of elegant moucharabiehs.Jeddah is also home to some fine examples of more recent Ottoman houses, which can be recognized by their large bay windows, bow-windows, raised bases and cut-out façades.
Architecture of Islam
Many scholars and theologians believe that the very first mosque in Medina was actually the home of the prophet Mohammed. Although nothing has survived of the building, many ancient sources describe it. Built of dried bricks, the edifice was square in plan, with each side measuring around 56 m. 9 rooms were arranged along the eastern wall and opened onto the interior; while short colonnades made of palm trunks were added to the north and south, their outstretched branches providing shade and coolness. Last but not least, the orientation of prayer was changed from Jerusalem to Mecca. This simplicity and sobriety formed the contours of the first Islamic architecture, which was repeated throughout the Muslim world. The Jawatha Mosque in Al-Ahsa, built in the 7th century, is probably the oldest on the peninsula. Look at its simple, unadorned mud-brick walls, low towers with rounded battlements, imposing wooden door and thatched roof. But as the centuries passed, this sobriety was abandoned in favor of more imposing and decorative structures, particularly in the Ottoman period. The Prophet's Mosque in Medina is a perfect example. Today's mosque enclosure is 100 times larger than that of the Prophet's original home! The interweaving of structures is astonishing. The contemporary white marble mosque encircles the Ottoman mosque, which has preserved its polychrome marble and stone decorations, its white marble columns with bases pierced by ventilation grilles, its arcades with alternating white and black stone surmounting the windows, and above all its verdigris dome and slender, slender minarets. This juxtaposition of eras is echoed in the Al-Haram Mosque, Mecca's largest mosque and the setting for the Kaaba. It's fascinating to note that the 7th-century Kaaba has retained a certain sobriety, with its square granite structure and thick, bare walls that emphasize its imposing wooden door plated with 280 kg of pure gold, while the surrounding Mosque is astonishingly gigantic. In the Ottoman era, it was the great architect Sinan who added gilded domes with calligraphically decorated vaults, columns, slender minarets and superb marble pavements. From the 1950s onwards, the mosque entered new phases of transformation with reinforced concrete extensions, the addition of minarets, decorated domes and coffered ceilings, the creation of new decorations all in artificial stone, plaster and marble plywood, and the installation of a modern air-conditioning system designed to cool the two million pilgrims that the new structure had to accommodate. This desire to impress is also evident in two more recent mosques: the Mosque of Mercy in Jeddah (1985), also known as the "floating mosque" because its dazzling white structure, topped by elegant turquoise domes, seems to float on the water; and the Al-Rahji Mosque in Haile (2010), with its 4 80-m-high minarets and 50 vermilion domes cascading downwards.But mosques are not the only examples of Islamic architecture. Saudi Arabia is also criss-crossed by the many routes of the Hajj, the pilgrimage leading the faithful to Mecca. These routes are dotted with forts that not only protect the pilgrims, but also and above all the springs, basins, cisterns and water reservoirs. Square in plan and organized around vast courtyards, these fortresses are impressive in their massiveness, reinforced by the presence of protective ramparts. They are complemented by more modest guesthouses, while the main pilgrimage "stations" are authentic small towns with mosques and souks. On the road linking the Iraqi city of Kufa to Mecca, sections of paved road and parts of roads protected by small walls made of large stacked stones have also been found, proving the importance of this pilgrimage route and the engineering treasures developed to combat a hostile environment. It's an engineering flair echoed by the Ottomans, who in the early 20th century devised the Hejaz Railway. Nearly 2,000 bridges were built of rough local stone, while stations were built every 20 km, organized along the lines of the original pilgrimage stations, with fortifications, wells, cisterns and caravanserais. The Hajj still inspires contemporary architects, such as Mahmoud Bodo Rasch, a German architect who converted to Islam and designed the astonishing structure of 250 sunshades, each covering an area of 625m2, to protect pilgrims in Medina.
Contemporary Saudi Arabia
The discovery of oil deposits led to an unprecedented construction boom in the country. In the 1970s, new towns and huge petrochemical complexes sprang up everywhere in the desert. At the time, Saudi citizens were even given building plots free of charge. Skyscrapers were also springing up. The most famous of this period is undoubtedly the National Bank of Commerce in Jeddah, designed by the American agency SOM. Its V-shaped silhouette, flanked by spiral parking lots, did not go unnoticed. Urbanization at breakneck speed has also forced many Bedouins to settle down. In the early 1990s, a project was launched to build houses, schools and mosques. Made from local volcanic rock, these constructions were designed to be built at low cost by the local population... but the project was soon abandoned. Faced with the constant influx of pilgrims, Mecca itself has been the focus of much attention, undergoing intense transformations, beginning in the 1970s with the creation of the Mecca Gate, a monumental arch representing a lectern. The construction of a boulevard 80 m wide and 4 km long, the creation of new districts, the completion of the Abraj Al Bait complex including the now famous Clock Tower overlooking the city at 601 m...: these transformations led to the destruction of two-thirds of the historic city. In 2016, Crown Prince MBS launched his Vision 2030 plan. The aim? To open up the country to tourism in particular. The craziest structures were then built, starting with astonishing cultural and scientific centers, such as : the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in Dhahran, with its 18 m Tower of Knowledge and its structure covered with 350 km of stainless steel tubes designed by the Snøhetta agency; the Maraya cultural center in AlUla, whose name meaning "mirror" refers to the 9740m2 of mirrors covering its silhouette; or the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center in Riyadh, for which the Zaha Hadid agency was inspired by the structure of beehives. Skyscrapers such as the Kingdom Tower and the 1,000 m-high Jeddah Tower continue to reach for the sky, but these projects are behind schedule. Another postponed inauguration is that of the Riyadh metro, whose main stations will be designed by Zaha Hadid, Snøhetta and Gerber Architeckten. And the country has no intention of stopping there: The Line / Neom, a vertical city 500 m high and 170 km long, with its spaceship-like appearance, seems a pharaonic project; The Red Sea Development, with its marinas, artificial beaches and hotel complexes, some of which will be designed by Norman Foster (who also drew up the plans for the Al Faisaliah Tower in Riyadh) or Kengo Kuma; the vast AlUla archaeological zone project, with the creation of new urban centres and large hotel complexes... including a project of villas carved out of the rock, signed by Jean Nouvel.
