Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The Heritage Commission has nominated 50,000 urban heritage assets from all the regions of Saudi Arabia for registration.

The commission said that the nomination was carried out in coordination with the stakeholders in accordance with the Antiquities and Urban Heritage Law.

The commission said that it will work on the plan of registration, classification and codification of the nominated assets in the Architectural Heritage Register according to their registration series, using the latest technology.

The Architectural Heritage Register is treated as an official record of the heritage sites that are registered based on specific criteria related to national, urban, or cultural significance under the Antiquities Urban Heritage Law, using the Geospatial Information System.

The registration process is carried out by accurately managing, storing and preserving information about these sites and buildings with the aim of determining the necessary preventive and protection measures, which ensure preserving and maintaining them for the coming generations, due to their great importance in the Kingdom’s urban heritage.

The steps of registering urban heritage assets in Saudi Arabia go through five main stages in the registration chain, starting from discovering an urban heritage asset, nominating the asset, following by registering the asset in the urban heritage register, classifying the asset, and finally codifying the asset.

Registering these sites will have several benefits, the most important of which is providing protection, authentication and support to preserve the sites, in addition to including them in future development plans.

Among other benefits is codification to celebrate the ownership of an urban heritage site and share it with the community. The National Register of Architectural Heritage currently comprises more than 3,400 registered urban heritage sites across Saudi Arabia.