AlUla is located on routes taken by Chinese goods (silk, ceramics, foodstuffs) as they passed through the Arabian Peninsula. The exhibition evokes this rich commercial past and the meeting of the ancient cultures of Saudi Arabia and China.

“AlUla, Wonder of Arabia” consolidates the economic relations developed between the two countries and aims to promote the region by reaching a new audience. Its presentation at a UNESCO site is an exceptional opportunity for AlUla to share its history with the world. The exhibition closed at the end of March, having welcomed over 4,000 visitors per day.

TIES BETWEEN

SAUDI ARABIA AND CHINA IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Watch

the launch

of the event

“By choosing the Forbidden City,

one of the most visited UNESCO World Heritage

sites, AlUla confirms once again its ambition

to share with an international audience

the vast extent of its dazzling heritage."

Jean-Yves Le Drian,

Chairmain of AFALULA

“By choosing the Forbidden City,

one of the most visited UNESCO

World Heritage sites, AlUla confirms

once again its ambition to share

with an international audience

the vast extentof its dazzling heritage."

Jean-Yves Le Drian,

Chairmain of AFALULA

LEARN MORE

THE

PALACE MUSEUM

Photo report

on the exhibition

Organized in four sequences corresponding to the main sites of AlUla - Dadan, Hegra, Qurh and the Old Town - the chronological tour of the exhibition invites visitors to explore the evolution of the region and the lifestyles of its inhabitants, from prehistory to the present. Finally, a significant part of the exhibition is devoted to the writings discovered in AlUla.

Original sculptures, pottery, cave paintings, animal bones and recently excavated religious relics never before seen by the general public... The exhibition presents 236 objects, all precious artifacts of the diverse civilizations which have inhabited AlUla over the millennia. Immersive multimedia and large-scale images by Yann Arthus-Bertrand also offer visitors the opportunity to appreciate all the richness of the local heritage and the beauty of the AlUla landscapes.

A FABULOUS JOURNEY THROUGH TIME

Resulting from a unique collaboration between the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) and the French Agency for AlUla Development (AFALULA), the exhibition was designed by archaeologists and co-curators Laïla Nehmé and Abdulrahman Alsuhaibani, Executive Director of Archaeology, Conservation and Collections at the RCU.

The exhibition reveals the fruits of more than twenty years of research, unveiling 200,000 years of human history. In Beijing, the exhibition was further enriched with the results of the latest excavation campaigns carried out by French, Saudi and international experts.

A UNIQUE ARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE

On January 5, 2024, the exhibition was inaugurated at the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City, Beijing, in the presence of Wang Xudong, director of the museum, Abdulrahman bin Ahmed Al-Harbi, Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to China and Ludovic Pouille, Ambassador of France to Saudi Arabia.

The next day, the first visitors had the privilege of discovering the dazzling heritage of AlUla in an exceptional setting. A crowd of visitors flocked through the doors of the West Pavilion of the museum to marvel at the 750 square meters of exhibition retracing the thousand-year-old history of the oasis.