Tourism & Hospitality | Sunday 2 August, 2015 2:11 am |

An architectural masterpiece — the King Abdul Aziz Historical Center (KAHC) — in Riyadh is a huge complex dedicated solely to collecting, preserving, promoting and showcasing the history and heritage of Saudi Arabia. 
The KAHC is a three million square feet facility that preserves the Kingdom’s past, shares early stories and connects people with history in meaningful ways. 
The KAHC plays an important role in the nation’s historic preservation by holding educational events, regular exhibitions and heritage celebrations. It also houses the rich national museum which is a must-see for all visitors to Riyadh. 
The KAHC is centered on Al-Murabba Palace in an area of great historical and political importance. The center aims to chronicle the history of the Arabian peninsula and Saudi Arabia in particular. 
It recounts the foundation of the Kingdom and records the great efforts involved in its march toward unity and stability. The building housing the KAHC, known as “Darat” in Arabic, is another example of how the architectural character of the area has been preserved. The whole historical complex is sub-divided into several areas. The center’s main square, plazas and other open spaces have been designed very much with community use in mind.
Its areas are ideal for celebrations, festivals, and official activities as well as for family get-togethers. The public parks and gardens with their graceful trees provide a relaxing atmosphere where people can rest and enjoy themselves in leisure. 
In fact, the sprawling public parks that holds the center lies at the heart of Riyadh, and forms an important part of the fabric of life in the capital. 
The main attraction of the KAHC is the national museum, which has eight main galleries featuring writings and objects from ancient Arabia. They display works and items from the days of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, to the times of the first Saudi state, unification and Haj. The museum in fact is an up-to-date reference source for the history of the peninsula. Darat Al-Malik Abdul Aziz, adjacent to the museum, houses a section for the journal of the Darat, the King Abdul Aziz Memorial Hall and also the personal library of the late King Abdul Aziz. 
The Darat, known as the King Abdulaziz Center for Information and Research, has thousands of rare documents about the Kingdom, including over 15,000 documents in German and about 30,000 in French. There are more than 70,000 American documents collected from the National Archives in Washington, US presidential libraries and other scholarly sources in the US. 
The center also holds major collections of photocopies of documents from British, Dutch and Italian archives. The center has brought together around 1,6000 manuscripts, both original and photocopied, relating to the history of the Kingdom. The private possessions of the late King Abdulaziz are also on display at Darat. Visitors can view some of King Abdul Aziz’s personal possessions such as his clothes and his full ceremonial head-dress. 
The walking stick of the late king in addition to his prayer beads and swords are also on display in Darat. 
The king had a very keen interest in science and all branches of knowledge. The result was a very rich collection in his personal library which was on the ground floor of Al-Murabba Palace. Today, there are 1,500 books, some of which were printed at the king’s expense in India, Egypt, Syria and Makkah. 
The area where the KAHC is located is also rich in the history and heritage of Saudi Arabia. A huge water tower beside the KAHC, a massive building called Queens Building a few steps away from the center, and the governorate building further, are a few landmarks that fall within a short distance of the KAHC. 
The KAHC has assuredly been designed to be at the heart of the Kingdom’s cultural and historical life.