The Sites of the Antique and Historical Buildings inTabuk
There are several antique and historical sites in Tabuk zone. Four of them are considered of the best ten antique sites in the Kingdom. These sites are : Taiyma, Quraiyah, Al-Bade’a, and Aiynounah. Moreover, the historical sites are related to the Prophet’s biography ( peace be upon him ), to the Saudi history and to the literature heritage.
There are many sites worth seeing and deserve a display on the tourism map, such as the old Arabian trading routes, the Egyptian pilgrimage’s route and Shami pilgrimage’s route.
All the antique sites suffer from collapse and neglect. So, they need intensive efforts for maintenance and care in order to make them ready for active tourism.
Although a few of them were maintained, such as Tabuk castle, Duba castle, That Al-Hajj castle and the buildings of the railway station in Tabuk, they may face collapse and damage again if they remain in this status quo of neglect and carelessness.
The most important antique buildings are threatened by damage and collapse, such as Al-Muaileh castle, Al-Aznam castle, Al-Zreep castle and Al-Suq castle. Therefore, they need an urgent care and maintenance.
Losing these antique buildings is a big and hard loss for the cultural tourism in Tabuk zone. There is a great connection between most of these sites. Therefore, each of them is considered to be a separate touring product, such as :
1- The castles and the stations which spread on the Shami pilgrimage route.
2- The castles and the stations which spread on the Egyptian pilgrimage route.
3- Al-Hijaz railway station.
4- Tabuk invading route.
5- Al-Bakrah lane : The old trading route between Al-Hejr and Petra.
6- Hassmi. ( The Arab’s library ).
7- Al-Anbat civilization.
8- Two cities civilization.
9- Al-Adoumiyen civilization. (Al-Juthamiyen).
All these sites need a lot of real and intensive efforts from the Antique Corporation, Tabuk authorities, private sector and the government to make them suitable and good places to attract tourists not only from the governorate or the local inhabitants but also from the whole region.
There are some suggestions that calling for changing intensive historical and antique sites into national parks for cultural heritage, such as the tens of the antique sites which spread on a limited geographical area in Taiyma. Other places can be changed into national parks for cultural and environmental heritage, like Hassmi and Al-Tubaiq.
Tabuk in the Ages Before the Era
Several sites in the north of the kingdom represent the Mesozoic Era which return to the Asholi Era, e.g. Al-Shoue’ateah in the north of Al-Jouf. Other sites return to the Mesozoic Era and Cenozoic Era and Shalcolithi Era.
The survey and drilling tasks which the Antique and Museum Corporation did, showed that Tabuk zone returns to the late Mesozoic, such as Kilwah site in the northeast of Tabuk. They found there a lot of stone tools and drawings on the rocks which return to thousands of years ago.
Tabuk in the Ages Before Islam
There are many old Arabian civilizations in Tabuk zone, such as Madian kingdom which due to the middle period when Tabuk was ruled by the Deedan, Luhaiyan and Ma’een kingdoms.
The Nebts kingdom had many important ports on Tabuk coast on the Red Sea. The most famous ones were Lukee Koumi which was in Aiynounah, Al-Khuraibah and Akrakoumi which were southern Al-Wajeh.
Tabuk in the Islamic Ages
After the spread of Islam, Tabuk played a very important and effective role because of its strategic importance to protect the new- born state in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah. Also, the tribes in Tabuk zone supported Islam and they took part in the spread of Islam. During the Islamic period, the inhabitants work in agriculture, trading and mining.
There are many sites which return to the Islamic Ages. There are Islamic cities, mining settlements, rock palaces and memorial writings. Moreover, there are several old routes which were used by the pilgrims who came from Syria, Jordan, Egypt and from the other Islamic and Arabic countries.
Factors of the Environmental Tourism
There are several environmental factors which help to make economic tourism, such as:
1- The beaches, the islands and the corals with the attractive nature help to make sea tourism.
2- The high mountains and the rocks with different shapes help to make mountain tourism.
3- The natural oases which spread near the coasts and in the heart of the desert help to make oases tourism.
4- The desert and the sandy hills which has a unique natural shapes help to make desert tourism.
All the previous environmental factors qualify and make Tabuk zone to become a touring centre for various fields, like sport and adventure tourism.
Factors of the Cultural Tourism
There are several cultural factors which help to found cultural tourism, such as :
1- The historical antique factors which are represented in the historical and antique sites in Tabuk, Aiynounah, Duba, Al-Wajeh, Umluj and Taiyma.
2- The sites of the castles on the pilgrimage route.
3- The stations on Al-Hijaz railway.
These sites which are rich with antiques and history help to found historical and antique tourism.
The Factors of the Cultural and Popular Heritage
There are many factors affect the cultural and popular heritage. Some of these factors play a very important role, such as :
1- The cultural centres, the associations and the literature clubs.
2- Popular Arts.
3- The heritage sport.
4- The arts exhibitions.
5- The private museums.
6- The heritage and cultural festivals.
7- The vocabulary of the desert, the mountains and the sea culture.
Translated by : Salem Mraheel Quraisha
Prepared by : Dr. Naif Al-Jahani
