The role of cultural landscape and world heritage to enhance the cultural and heritage environment in AlUla

Organized by the National Committee for the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), a symposium showcased two seminal lectures titled “Cultural Landscape and World Heritage” and “Foundational Approaches to Supporting the Cultural Environmental Heritage of Al Ula.”
In the inaugural lecture, Dr. Adnan Adas, a distinguished authority in heritage preservation, meticulously delineated the concept of cultural landscapes, elucidating with concrete exemplars drawn from sites enumerated in the World Heritage List. Concurrently, Dr. Abdulmohsen Farhat, an eminent figure in heritage conservation, expounded upon foundational methodologies in the subsequent discourse, underscoring the imperative of equilibrium and sustainability in urban planning for the cultural heritage sites of Al Ula.
The symposium underscored three distinct classifications of cultural landscape heritage cataloged in the World Heritage List, encompassing the Al-Ahsa Oasis, the cultural landscapes of Al Ula, and the cultural heritage of the Sawawat Mountains. These discourses engendered a holistic comprehension of the imperative to safeguard cultural heritage and foster the development of natural environs within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with an overarching aim to attain sustainable equilibrium and preserve the intrinsic cultural identity of these locales.