One of the most notable features of buildings in Al-Balad – which simply means “the town” in Arabic – is a form of intricate wooden latticework known as rawasheen.

These wooden window coverings and balconies weren’t just popular for aesthetic reasons – although many are beautiful, with intricate designs of circles, crescent moons, arrows or stars and often painted in shades of blue or green.

Quite simply, they were practical for desert life. Rawasheen (rowshan, in singular) blocked the worst of the midday sun, while the louvered designs and slats allowed breezes to float through.

In addition to being beautiful, these rawasheen – often made with fine materials not local to the area – are examples of Jeddah’s dynamic culture.

“What made Jeddah very wealthy was the trade across the Red Sea to Egypt, which was a very big market,” explains James Parry, author of the book “Jeddah Al Balad.”

“So, Jeddah’s merchants were like brokers, and they became super rich and they built themselves magnificent houses, decked out in expensive materials, lots of imported teak and mahogany from south of Asia, India and also some from East Africa.”

Located at the crossroads of continents, Saudi Arabia has been a fantastic meeting point for civilizations who left behind an abundant heritage.
AlUla is an eloquent symbol of this richness. For centuries, its oasis has been a crossing point for caravans on the Incense trade route, which connected Asia, Africa and Europe, transiting spices, myrrh, cotton, ebony and silk.

The oasis city, once named Dedan, has successively been ruled by Ancient North Arabian Kingdoms (Dedan then Lihyan), then by the Nabataeans who founded the ancient city of Hegra 20 kilometers away, then by the Roman Empire, before Muhammad’s arrival in 630 A.D. during his campaign against the Byzantine army. All these civilizations stamped the region with their unique culture, leaving exceptional archaeological sites for posterity.

Carrying the memory of their predecessors, in the 13th century Muslims reused the stones of the Dedanite and Lihyanite ruins to build what we call today the Old Town of AlUla.

Madain Saleh is the most iconic historical site of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the first to be listed as a UNESCO Word Heritage, back in 2008. It is located in the north of Madinah Province, in the area of Al-Ula, where many other fascinating archeological sites attest to the thousands of years of human occupation of the area thanks to the underground water available for millennia.

Madain Saleh means the "cities of Saleh" after the name of the Prophet Saleh who tried to convert the ancient people of Thamud to Islam. But this name started to be used only during the Ottoman occupation of the Hejaz, whereas the people who built this city, the Nabateans, called it Hijra (as it appears in some ancient inscriptions at the site), and the Romans used to call it Hegra. The historical site is still known today in Arabic as Al-Hijr, after which a Surat of the Holy Quran is named.

Makkah is the Sacred City as well as the holiest and the absolute most honorable place on earth. The most truthful sources from which one can take news about its history are the Noble Quran and the authentic prophetic narrations in this regard, and from these we can ascertain its ancient history as well as how it was prior the message and prophet hood of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم. After the advent of Islam, Muslim scholars and historians have endeavoured to record chronicles of Makkah in general history books as well as books concerned with the biographies of the Muslim scholars who lived in it.

One of the most famous being “Chronicles of Makkah and its Ancient Monuments” authored by Abu Al-Waleed Al-Azraqi from the third century AH. Thereafter, one scholar who is considered to be the most prolific author regarding it and its history was Imam Taqiyyud-Deen Al-Fasi Al-Makki (775 AH – 832 AH). He entitled his book “The Therapy for those who Harbour Affection for the History of the Sacred City”.