3rd
Derelict Mosque, Al-Diriyah, Riyadh
Al-Diriyah, Riyadh
A visit to Al-Diriyah on the northwestern outskirts of Riyadh produced some unexpected sights. The original home of the Saudi royal family and capital of the first Saudi dynasty from 1744 to 1818, Al-Diriyah is now an area of wattle and daub ruins being renevated and restored. However, the taxi driver let me and a friend out across the road from a crumbling mosque on the edge of the area. We don’t know why the mosque had been demolished. It proved to be much more interesting than the ‘ruins’ further into the area. It was difficult to know where to walk - construction vehicles and metal fencing littered the old town and seemingly aged buildings revealed breezeblock interiors.
Just as we were leaving the mosque, a car pulled over and an older man got out and approached us. We’d half expected some attention from locals or police. The man gestured to our cameras and then pulled his mobile out to show us one of his own photos. At first I didn’t know what I was looking at but with a few key words from him like ‘baby’, ‘sheep’, ‘you’, I realised the image was of a sheep giving birth. Excitedly he pointed in a direction over some houses. He wanted us to come and document his sheep giving birth. He gave us his number, jumped back in his car and sped off. We didn’t call him, maybe we should have.
