Historic Jeddah

Time of the visit: the 29th of nov. till the 2nd of dec.2024

Al-Balad,Jeddah's historic district,is an enchanting and bewitching place,hassle free,a quiet oasis in a big ocean of houses,shopping malls,traffic jams,and faceless and boring residential areas. I stayed there three nights,and I dont regret a single minute of it. Sure, I also visited some shopping malls,the corniche, its big aquarium ,tried to enterJeddah's refinery (tentative whs,the oil industrial heritage in SA)....in vain,walked along the "Tahlia" walkway from the Serafi mall till the end of the walkway (what a sight to see all those saudis walking on a safe pedestrian street sandwiched between two busy streets),and visited some other places outside Al-Balad. Nevertheless,most of the time I passed inside Al-Balad,inside its historic district.

Jeddah's historic heart with over 650 houses built by its mercantile families is full with surprises,different souhks,mosques,cafes,restaurants,and more and more saudi tourists.What is typical of its architecture are the facades of these mercantile houses: hanging latticed teakwood windows of great artistry and craftsmanship ( the so-called "rawasheen "pl,"roshan",singular). 

Restorations were underway everywhere, but without really causing too much disruption. Significant parts of the old town have already been renovated. There are now cafes everywhere and also places with tables and chairs, public places that are not assigned to a cafe, where you can just sit down after buying an iced mango juice or a karak chai in one of the numerous shops there.

The historic district's listing as The Gate to Makkah as …

Visited in February 2024. Walking around the historical Jeddah during noon on a weekday, you'll get the place all for yourself. Not much local life here during the daytime, which is the case everywhere in Saudi Arabia. The old town is still mostly a construction site. Almost every building is undergoing renovations and none of the museums were open for the public during my visit. However, the old town is still quite picturesque with the tall buildings and their wooden balconies. 

I started my visit from the Al Bayaa Square in the northern part of the old town, where one of the old gates is located. There was a lot of buzz around here as people were building up stalls for the Jeddah half marathon. From there I started to walk towards Shafei Mosque. I found this northern part of the old town to be the most pleasant part, maybe because there was no one around, but also the buildings were there more beautiful. Rest of the old town has more non-traditional buildings in the mix. At Shafei Mosque I was invited to join a tour group and heard about the history of the mosque. The beautifully carved wooden door of the mosque is 600 years old. From the mosque I continued to Nassif House Museum which was closed for renovations. The building is beautiful and well-restored from the outside. From there I walked along the Souq Al Alawi to Matbouli House Museum which was very much closed and …

Jeddah is the second largest city in Saudi Arabia with a population of nearly five million. The country's commercial centre and the gateway for pilgrims to Mecca. Jeddah is also considered to be the cultural centre of Saudi and the most liberal city in the country. Of course, we couldn't miss it on our journey across the country. Generally, it's an easy visit as there are regular bus and air connections not only from Saudi, but also neighbouring countries.

The drive in was surprisingly long. Not surprisingly, the city is indeed sprawling, and we passed clusters of buildings, commercial and multifunctional centers for dozens of kilometers on the highway. Then comes the attempt to get somewhere near the historic centre of Al-Balad, a World Heritage Site. Remember my previous reviews and my mindless yapping on the subject of permanent reconstruction? Well, Jeddah is no different. One entire neighborhood in the wider city center adjacent to the old city has been practically razed to the ground and is apparently being reconstructed or outright redeveloped. Some roads are blocked or traffic is being diverted because of this. Eventually we manage to get the car as close as possible to our destination, park and spend the next fifteen minutes or so trying to get around all the areas where something is actively being built and get to the part of the historic centre where we can walk. Finally we get to the historic part of Historic Jeddah. It's a pleasant, if slightly …

So Jeddah gets inscribed - against the wishes of ICOMOS! The large bloc vote of Islamic countries present on the 2014 WHC, combined, possibly, with the unwillingness of the others to take part in anything which could be regarded as being “anti-Islamic”, meant that the “professional” objections were easily overturned. Whoever it was who decided that the title of this site which, when ICOMOS recommended non-inscription in 2011, was merely “The Historical City of Jeddah” should be changed to “Historic Jeddah – the Gate to Makkah” when it was re-nominated (in a much reduced form) for 2014 carried out a master stroke – who could vote against “THE Gate to Makkah”!? (Interestingly one of the ICOMOS recommendations - never discussed - was that the title should be changed to "Jeddah – A gate to Makkah"!)

It is interesting to compare the 2011 and 2014 nominations. The former included 3 areas of the city and, in relation to its “pilgrimage” history, ICOMOS concluded that “the impact of pilgrimage to the Holy Cities on Historic Jeddah is therefore relatively recent and today plays a minor role, as the pilgrims disembark at Jeddah International Airport, which is located miles north of the Historic City of Jeddah. The common area across the 2 nominations consists of the “central part of the historic city Al Balad”. The 2014 nomination has identified a number of buildings related to the pilgrimage which received NO mention in …