History
Diriyah was founded in 1446 in the Wadi Hanifa valley. By the 18th century it had become the seat of the First Saudi State – a centre of political and cultural authority whose influence reached far beyond the valley it was founded in.
At its heart stood At-Turaif: a walled district of palaces, mosques and civic buildings constructed in the Najdi tradition, from mudbrick and local stone, shaped by the landscape and climate as much as by the hands that built it. In 2010, it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site – recognised not only for its age, but for what it represents.
Walking through it today, the scale is immediately apparent. This was not a modest settlement. It was a capital – and three centuries on, it still feels like one.
