Arts & Culture

Hima in Najran: An open world museum of rock inscriptions

The leadership in Saudi Arabia succeeded in registering the “Hima Cultural District” in Najran, in the UNESCO World Heritage List as a cultural site of exceptional universal value for human heritage.

Hima Cultural District is one of the largest open museums of rock inscriptions in Saudi Arabia. It includes seven wells, surrounded by caves and mountains full of rock paintings and inscriptions.

According to “SPA”, the cultural rock art area in “Hima” extends over an area of ​​557 square kilometers, and includes 550 rock paintings containing hundreds of thousands of inscriptions and rock drawings.

It is located at an important point in the ancient caravan routes and trade routes, representing the southern parts of the Arabian Peninsula.

The Hima site includes tens of thousands of rock inscriptions of several ancient texts, including inscriptions in the Thamudi, Nabataean, Southern Musnad, Syriac and Greek inscriptions.

It have also the early Arabic inscriptions (from the pre-Islamic period), which are the beginnings of modern Arabic calligraphy.

The rock art and inscriptions of Hima represent a valuable source for documenting written, artistic and even ethnographic history.

This is evidenced by the vast archaeological remains that were found at the site in the form of mounds, installations and tombs, and workshops for the manufacture of stone tools such as axes, pestles and stone arrowheads.

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