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Jeddah Historic District: 10 Years on UNESCO World Heritage List

The Jeddah Historic District marks a decade since its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Under the supervision of the Saudi Ministry of Culture, the Jeddah Historic Program celebrates the 10th anniversary of the District’s inclusion, which took place in 2014 in recognition of its historical and universal value.

Jeddah Historic District: 10 Years on UNESCO World Heritage List

The Jeddah Historic District covers an area of 2.5 square kilometers along the Red Sea Coast, and is known for its outstanding architectural features, urban layout and distinctive cultural heritage.

Owing to its location, the District has served as a major port for pilgrims travelling to Makkah and a key hub for global trade routes between Asia and Africa since the 7th century.

Jeddah Historic District: 10 Years on UNESCO World Heritage List

Known as Al-Balad, the Jeddah Historic District is home to 5 historical markets, 650 historic buildings with unique architecture that reflects the region’s heritage, several historical mosques, and one historical school.

With its multi-storey buildings, wooden components, traditional construction techniques, the Jeddah Historic District’s buildings are characterized by the architectural style and urban fabric of the historic cities of the Red Sea coast.

Jeddah Historic District: 10 Years on UNESCO World Heritage List

Among the district’s most famous ancient buildings are Bait Nassif, Bait Matbouli, Bait Nour Wali, Bait Alsharbatly, Bait Baeshen, Bait AlRashaida and Bait Qabil.

This heritage site feature 8 gates that date back to ancient times, including Bab Jadeed, Bab Makkah, and Bab Shareef. Those gates were used to provide security and protect the district’s markets and alleys.

Development Efforts

The Jeddah Historic District Program has made a lot of efforts to revive the district and transform it into a global heritage destination in line with the Saudi Vision 2030.

Jeddah Historic District: 10 Years on UNESCO World Heritage List

To this end, the Program has embarked on several projects to develop the district. These projects include Historic Buildings Restoration Project, Historic Jeddah Waterfront Development Project, Culture Square Project, Archaeology and Excavation Project, and Historic Markets Project.

As a result, the Jeddah Historic District has been enlisted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because it fulfills 3 key criteria: representing an important interchange of human values over time, being an outstanding example of a type of building or architectural style, and being directly associated with events, living traditions, or artistic works of outstanding global significance.

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