Diriyah

The ancestral home of the Al Saud family on the outskirts of Riyadh, Diriyah preserves the mud-brick ruins of the first Saudi capital, including the At-Turaif palace district inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Wadi Hanifah cuts through the settlement, and the earthen architecture of Najdi style — with its distinctive triangular parapet decorations and geometric surface patterning — is characteristic of the central Arabian building tradition. An ongoing restoration programme is progressively opening new sections of the historic precinct.