The Darb Zubaydah (Saudi)

Fayd is the most convenient location of this TWHS as its on route between Hail and Riyadh. Also an important one, as it’s halfway to Mecca from Kufa. So we also decided to visit Fayd. The visitor experience has improved a lot since Martina and Ivan were there. While the 2 wells described in the first review are visible from the fence, the palace is actually the main site to visit.

A big visitor center was built in front of the entrance, where the local guide Saud and the security responsible Fayez received us with the fantastic Saudi hospitality we had experienced throughout the country.
The videos (with English subtitles), info boards and expositions give you an insight of the importance of Fayd and the this route as well as other relevant cultural site in the region. Saud guided us through every room, explaining the history of the Darb Zubaydah with passion.

The castle is not much more than a pile of rubble, but the remains of other parts are clearly visible. There is a big cistern, remains of the mosque, the outer wall and remains of rooms that were used as some kind of free hotel for the pilgrims. The whole site is still rather like a classical archaeological site and not a fake reconstruction. I hope it remains like this.

I am rather sceptic about the attempt to inscribe 3 different Hajj WHS, but at least a combined version should be inscribed and Fayd for …

Heading to the Rock Art in the Ha'il region from Buraydah, we had one of the monuments from this series nomination.These are monuments along the historical route from the Iraqi cities of Kufa and Baghdad to Mecca. As part of its Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia has as one of its goals to double the number of inscriptions on the World Cultural Heritage List, and I commend them for getting consultants of quality who have come up with good topics and at the same time an international dimension. Pilgrimage routes are nominated as three potential serial entries: in addition to the Saudi-Iraqi route Darb Zubaydah (i.e. the one being reviewed), there are also Egyptian and Syrian routes. All heading, as usual, to Mecca.

Dar Zubaydah can boast an interesting history - a hundred years after the rise of Islam, local rulers tried to improve pilgrimage routes by building road infrastructure such as milestones or various places where pilgrims could spend the night during the long journey. As the population of present-day Iraq prospered at the turn of the first millennium AD, more and more people could make the pilgrimage, and there was a threat that the water supply along the way would not be sufficient for their needs. And so the building of infrastructure continued, this time water infrastructure in the form of wells and cisterns. Wealthy locals could fund or build hostels for pilgrims, which then bore their name, as part of the alms (zakat) that Islam commands. Pilgrims …