Saudi Arabia

 Okay, what or where is a “Diriyah? It’s both.  Diriyah is an ancient city in Saudi Arabia that predates Columbus’s landing in the New World.  It was one of the few places that the Skunk could take photographs while working there from 1989 to 1991.  These photos were taken with a 110 instamatic camera and then the prints were recently scanned into digital format. 

Diriyah is considered to be one of the most alluring attractions in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. Modern construction is rapidly encircling this ancient site.   It is an ancient city of major historical significance. According to the chroniclers of Nejd, the city was founded in 1446-7 by Mani Al-Mraydi, an ancestor of the Saudi royal family.  Diriyah was the original home of the Saudi royal family, and served as the capital of the first Saudi dynasty from 1744 to 1818, until the the destruction of Diriyah at the end of the Ottoman- Saudi war of 1811–18 during the Nejd Expedition. The ruins of the City of Old Diriyah are open to the public, and visitors exploring its narrow passages and ruined buildings step out of the twentieth century and find themselves entranced by the romance and adventure of Diriyah’s turbulent history, which also accounts for its immense popularity among tourists and expatriates working in the Saudi Kingdom. The windows in the rooms were normally triangular as this shape did not need a wooden lintel. These buildings were built of nothing but mud brick, palm thatch and palm trunks.  Remember, palms are not trees, they are ferns so thy do not have wood, the trunk is fibrous. .  The old city was declared a World Heritage Site in 2010.  For additional info about this fascinating location go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diriyah

Part of
the reconstructed city wall.