Old Town

With its labyrinth of tightly packed streets, hundreds of mudbrick buildings, and a colossal watchtower fort, Old Town is one of Northwest Arabia's most impressive heritage sites. Stroll among the ruins and you can feel a palpable sense of its history as a once-thriving settlement along ancient trading routes dating back almost a millennium.

Modern AlUla encompasses one of Saudi Arabia’s most exceptional heritage sites, Old Town.

 

One of the reasons it evokes such a deep sense of emotion is that it was actually inhabited in the not-so-distant past. AlUla Old Town is located in the narrowest part of the AlUla Valley. Built on a slight elevation, the town is overlooked by the Musa bin Nusayr Castle, a citadel dating back approximately to the 10th century.

In the 12th century, AlUla Old Town became an essential settlement along the pilgrimage route from Damascus to Makkah. The city gradually replaced Qurh, to the south of AlUla, and is favourably mentioned by travellers from the 12th to the 20th centuries, when modern AlUla was constructed nearby. The houses were designed to be attached to one another, providing fortification, which hints to defence being a priority for the city's early inhabitants. At one point, the city was accessed by 14 gates, which were opened in the morning to welcome travellers, pilgrims and other visitors, and closed each evening. The ancient city’s recent occupation has enabled researchers to begin to gather oral histories, painting a picture of what life was like inside its walls. These stories will one day be available to visitors who can look forward to tapping into AlUla Old Town’s living memory.