Newsletter
Places · Ad-Dir'iyah

At-Turaif, the first Saudi capital

Mud-brick palaces on the edge of an oasis, where the first Saudi state was governed.

A capital at the edge of the oasis

At-Turaif stands in ad-Dir'iyah, north-west of Riyadh, in the heart of the Arabian Peninsula. Founded in the fifteenth century, it was the first capital of the Saudi dynasty.

In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries its political and religious weight grew. The citadel of at-Turaif became the seat of power of the House of Saud, and a centre from which the teachings of Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdul Wahhab spread.

What you will see

The district holds the remains of many palaces and a whole urban ensemble built along the edge of the ad-Dir'iyah oasis.

It is the clearest example of the Najdi style, the architecture of central Arabia: major palace complexes built of adobe, with a strong geometric sense of decoration. UNESCO inscribed it in 2010.

Keep reading.

Al-FawAl-Faw, the caravan city at the edge of the Empty Quarter Riyadh RegionRiyadh Region, the heart of the Kingdom Museum · RiyadhThe National Museum, the story of Arabia in eight halls Museum · RiyadhAl-Masmak, the mud fortress of Riyadh UshaigerUshaiger, a mud-brick village on the pilgrim road FounderImam Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the first Saudi state Riyadh CityRiyadh, an old oasis name for a capital of seven million DiriyahDiriyah, the mud-brick cradle of the Saudi state