Database: Heritage and Archaeology
The beginning of the 20th century was a period of renewal for AlUla: a railway for Muslim pilgrims was built, connecting Damascus to Medina via AlUla, which revitalised local life. The area’s extraordinary cultural heritage attracted more travellers and scientists, notably the French Dominican priests and scholars Jaussen and Savignac, who travelled here between 1907 and 1910. The documentary wealth they assembled became the foundation of the modern archaeological research at Dadan and Hegra that followed.
A century later, in 2008, the site of Hegra was inscribed as Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it remains its most spectacular. In 2017, the Saudi entity, The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) was created, taking charge of exploration and study of the area’s natural and cultural heritage, in addition to tourism and other economic development hand-in-hand with conservation and protection. The following year, France joined the endeavour through an intergovernmental agreement.
More than ever, the work of research, preservation, and promotion of this extraordinary cultural heritage continues. Archaeological survey, excavation and associated studies extend well beyond the initial sites, periods and aspects of study, to now range from the Stone Age through to the Islamic, and to include the dynamic involvement of human activity in the landscape.