Mohammed bin Salman Project for Historical MosquesRenovation' achieved development and rehabilitation of all mosques of the firstphase of the project which reached 30 mosques in 10 regions of the Kingdom ofSaudi Arabia at a cost of more than SR50 million during 423 days with directionand follow-up by His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz AlSaud, the Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, withinHRH the Crown Prince's direvtive to renovate 130 historical mosques in theKingdom of Saudi Arabia over several stages.
HRH the Crown Prince's directive sets for the implementationof renovation projects during the first phase by Saudi companies that areexperienced and specialized in heritage buildings with the importance ofinvolving Saudi engineers to ensure the preservation of the authentic urbanidentity of each mosque since its foundation, which was done through theprogram for the reconstruction of historical mosques at the Ministry of Culturein partnership with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Call and Guidance, theGeneral Authority for Tourism and National Heritage and the Saudi Society forthe Preservation of Heritage.
The project took into account the small details to recoverthe basic design of the mosques using new and high quality materials, and addednew necessary elements, such as prayer rooms for women, services for peoplewith the disabilities and service facilities and the development of servicefacilities such as air conditioning, lighting and acoustics, and theirimplementation in a manner consistent with the mosque's historical identity.
The age of these historical mosques varies between 1432 and60 years. One of them was established in the era of the Prophet's companionJarir bin Abdullah Al-Bajali (May Allah Be Pleased with Him), namely JarirAl-Bajali Mosque in Taif Governorate. Some of these historical mosques wereknown as a scholarly beacon, such as Sheikh Abu Bakr Mosque which wasestablished more than 300 years ago in Al-Ahsa Governorate.
Since the beginning of the month of Jumada Al-Awwal of thecurrent year 1441H, the mosques renovated under the project's first phasestarted to receive worshipers after being closed for more than 40 years tostart a new stage for these mosques, to become a historical religious symbolthat would preserve religious heritage and Islamic architecture and reviveheritage villages and the centers of historical cities.
HRH the Crown Prince's support for the historical mosques,which is the largest in history in terms of the number of mosques and the totalcost, emanates from the mosques' great position in the Islamic religion, inaddition to being one of the most important features of the urban architecturalheritage, and for the originality of its architectural character and itsimportance in highlighting the features of the local architecture of mosquesand their diversity in terms of design and building materials in line with thegeographical and climatic nature and building materials in various regions ofthe Kingdom.
The renovation works started with conducting studies,documenting the historical and architectural dimensions of each mosque,reviewing all challenges surrounding these mosques, and maintaining thearchitectural style that distinguishes each region of the Kingdom of SaudiArabia which some of them depend on building with stones and others with clayand the use of local wood that characterizes each region.
The renovation process has preserved the architecturalcharacter of the mosques in terms of stucco decoration and heritage ceilingsand mosque courtyards that were the meeting place of the people of the villageson their occasions and receiving their guests and for consultations inachieving social solidarity and conflict resolution. Moreover, the renovationprocess focused on restoring sections that have long been distinguished by oldmosques, such as the "Khalwah", a term that means an underground prayarea or a backend pray area at a certain height that protects the worshipersfrom cold weather while performing prayers. Reception sites for guests passingthrough the mosque which are attached to the mosque, as well as ablution placesand traditional wells of the mosque were also preserved.
'Mohammed bin Salman Project for Historical MosquesRenovation' will boost interest in developing the villages, heritage cities andthe centers of the historical cities in the Kingdom, and the rehabilitation ofthose mosques for worship and prayer after desertion in the past years, afterthe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the past four decades went through a rapidurban development, one of the effects of which was the trend towards buildingmodern mosques, neglecting most of the historical mosques, and sometimes evendemolishing them, building new ones in their place, or leaving historicalmosques and moving to other modern mosques, which led to the disappearance ofmany of them, where many of these mosques are located in heritage villages,most of them deserted, in addition to emphasizing restoring their architecturaloriginality according to their geographical locations data. The project willenhance the preservation of historical mosques and highlight the architecturalcharacteristics in their design and benefit from them in developing the designof modern mosques, especially that most elements of the design of historicalmosques coincide with the trend towards sustainability and green architecture.Also, the preservation and development of historical mosques contribute mainlyto highlighting the cultural dimension of the Kingdom, which is stressed byVision 2030.
The mosques that were renovated during the project'sfirst phase are:
Al-Dakhlah Mosque (Sudair, Riyadh); Al-Zarqa Mosque(Tharmada, Riyadh); Al-Twaim Mosque (Al-Twaim, Riyadh); Qasr Al-Sharia Mosque(Hayatham, Riyadh); Al-Mansaf Mosque (Zulfi, Riyadh); Sudirah Mosque (Shaqra,Riyadh); Al-Saderah Mosque (Taif, Makkah); Al-Bajali bin Malik Mosque (Taif,Makkah); Al-Habeish Mosque (Hofuf, Eastern Region); Abu Bakr Mosque (Hofuf,Eastern Region); Al-Saro Village Mosque (Al-Saro, Asir); Al-Nassab Mosque(Abha, Asir); Sadr Aed Mosque (Namas, Asir); Al Akasah Mosque (Namas, Asir);Al-Mudhafah Mosque (Balsamer, Asir); Al-Ajlan Mosque (Buraidah, Qassim);Mohammed Al-Muqbel Mosque (Buraidah, Qassim); Al-Barqaa Mosque (Asiah, Qassim);The Old Mosque (Oqlat Alsqoor, Qassim); Al-Atawlah Heritage Mosque (Atawlah,Baha); Al-Dhafeer Heritage Mosque (Baha); Al-Malad Heritage Village Mosque(Mald, Baha); Taboot Mosque (Farsan Island, Jazan); Al-Maghaydhah Mosque(Hail); Qafar Mosque (Hail); Al-Jalud Mosque (Sumaira, Hail); Al-RahebeenMosque (Sakaka, Jouf); Al-Haditha Mosque (Haditha, Jouf); Al-Issawiya Mosque(Issawiya, Jouf); and Abu Bakr Mosque (Thar, Najran).
