Al-Qatt Al-Asiri, female traditional interior wall decoration in Asir, Saudi Arabia | |
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Country | Saudi Arabia |
Reference | 01261 |
Region | Arab States |
Inscription history | |
Inscription | 2017 (12th session) |
List | Representative |
Part of a series on |
Arabic culture |
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Al-Qatt Al-Asiri (also called nagash painting or majlis painting), is a style of South Arabian art, typically painted by women in the entrance to a home. It originated in the 'Asir Region of Saudi Arabia where the front parlour of traditional Arab homes typically contained wall paintings in the form of a mural or fresco with geometric designs in bright colors. Called nagash in Arabic, the wall paintings are often considered a mark of pride. [1] In 2017 Al-Qatt Al-Asiri was inscribed on UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. [2]
Women in the Asir region are traditionally responsible for plastering and painting the walls, corridors, and ceilings of their homes. A family’s wealth is often signified by the skill, color, and complexity of the paintings, with poorer homes decorated in basic straight, simple lines in red, green, yellow, and brown.[ citation needed ] [3] Women within the same neighborhood sometimes compete to make the most vivid and extravagant designs.
Women's artwork is heavily influenced by their love for music, their view of culture and general perception of life[ citation needed ]; for example, the artwork of more conservative women is more likely to feature conservative and modest colors.[ citation needed ] [4]
The interior walls of the home are brightly painted, employing defined patterns of lines, triangles, squares, diagonals and tree-like patterns. [1] The geometric designs and heavy lines seem to be adapted from the area’s textile and weaving patterns. [5]
Women from the region sometimes sell miniature 'Asiri houses as souvenirs and bric-à-brac, which are popular among Saudi city-dwellers, who find these colorful houses a source of wonder. [6]
The Saudi provincial airport in Abha reflects the region's cultural heritage. Airport Director Abdul Aziz Abu Harba said that "the seating arrangement at the airport lounge has been in the form of a traditional majlis and the walls are painted in various colors reflecting the natural beauty of Asir". [7]
Majlis is an Arabic term meaning 'sitting room', used to describe various types of special gatherings among common interest groups of administrative, social or religious nature in countries with linguistic or cultural connections to the Muslim world. Majlis can refer to a legislature as well and is used in the name of legislative councils or assemblies in some states.
Asir, officially the Asir Province, is a province in the southwest of Saudi Arabia, which is named after the ʿAsīr tribe. It has an area of 76,693 square kilometres (29,611 sq mi), and an estimated population of 2,024,285. ʿAsīr is surrounded by Mecca Province to the north and west, Al-Bahah Province to the northwest, Riyadh Province to the northeast, Najran Province to the southeast, and Jazan Province and the Yemeni Muhafazah (Governorate) of Saada to the south.
Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. With a keen eye for detail and a creative flair, an interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordinates, and manages such enhancement projects. Interior design is a multifaceted profession that includes conceptual development, space planning, site inspections, programming, research, communicating with the stakeholders of a project, construction management, and execution of the design.
A kasbah, also spelled qasbah, qasba, qasaba, or casbah, is a fortress, most commonly the citadel or fortified quarter of a city. It is also equivalent to the term alcazaba in Spanish, which is derived from the same Arabic word. By extension, the term can also refer to a medina quarter, particularly in Algeria. In various languages, the Arabic word, or local words borrowed from the Arabic word, can also refer to a settlement, a fort, a watchtower, or a blockhouse.
Qusayr 'Amra or Quseir Amra, sometimes also named Qasr Amra, is the best-known of the desert castles located in present-day eastern Jordan. It was built some time between 723 and 743, by Walid Ibn Yazid, the future Umayyad caliph Walid II, whose dominance of the region was rising at the time. It is considered one of the most important examples of early Islamic art and architecture.
Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud, commonly known as Khalid Al-Faisal, is a Saudi Arabian politician, artist, and poet who is the governor of Makkah Province, in office from 2007 to 2013 and again since 2015. He was the Saudi minister of education from 2013 to 2015. He was also the governor of Asir Province from 1971 to 2007. He served as an adviser to King Salman. He is a grandson of Saudi Arabia's founder King Abdulaziz and a son of King Faisal.
Abha is the capital of 'Asir Region in Saudi Arabia. It is situated 2,270 metres above sea level in the fertile Asir Mountains of south-western Saudi Arabia, near Asir National Park. Abha's mild climate makes it a popular tourist destination for Saudis. Saudis also call the city the Bride of Mountain due to its position above the sea.
Baljurashi or Biljurashi is a city in Al Bahah Region, south-western Saudi Arabia. It is located at around 19°51′40″N41°33′40″E in the elevation of cca 2,000 metres. It was the capital of the region which includes the tribes of Ghamid and Zahran. It is a medium-sized city in Al Bahah Region. The temperature usually varies between 2 °C (36 °F) in winter and 30 °C (86 °F) in summer. The best time for a visit is from mid-August till the end of September. Most of the native people of Baljurashi live outside it; however, a great number of them spend their summer vacations in the city, which explains the massive increase in population number during summer.
Saudi Arabian art is contextual to the country being the birthplace of Islam; it includes both the arts of Bedouin nomads and those of the sedentary peoples of regions such as the Hejaz, Tihamah, Asir and Najd.
Fatima Abou Gahas was a Saudi visual artist from 'Asir Province.
The Houthi–Saudi Arabian conflict is an ongoing armed conflict between the Royal Saudi Armed Forces and Iran-backed Yemeni Houthi forces that has been taking place in the Arabian Peninsula, including the southern Saudi regions of Asir, Jizan, and Najran, and northern Yemeni governorates of Saada, Al Jawf, and Hajjah, since the onset of the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen in 2015.
Litema, spelled as Ditema in South African Sesotho orthography is a form of Sesotho mural art composed of decorative and symbolic geometric patterns, commonly associated with Sesotho tradition today practised in Lesotho and neighbouring areas of South Africa. Basotho women generate litema on the outer walls and inside of homesteads by means of engraving, painting, relief mouldings and/or mosaic. Typically the geometric patterns are combed or scratched into the wet top layer of fresh clay and dung plaster of the wall, and later painted with earth ochers or, in contemporary times, manufactured paint. Patterns most often mimic ploughed fields through a combed texture, or the patterns refer to plant life, and more occasionally to other aspects of the natural world, such as referring to clan totem animal. Litema are transient; they may desiccate and crumble or be washed away by heavy rain. It is common for women of an entire village to apply litema on such special occasions as a wedding or a religious ceremony.
Al Sadu, or simply Sadu, describes an embroidery form in geometrical shapes hand-woven by Bedouin people. Sadu House in Kuwait was established by the Al Sadu Society in 1980 to protect the interests of the Bedouins and Sadu weaving.
Qaryat Al Faw was the capital of the first Kindah kingdom. It is located about 100 km south of Wadi ad-Dawasir, and about 700 km southwest of Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia. The Al Faw archeological site reveals various features such as residential houses, markets, roads, cemeteries, temples, and water wells.
The following lists events in the year 2019 in Saudi Arabia.
Rijal Almaa or Rijal Almaʽa is a village located in the Rijal Almaa province, 'Asir Region, Saudi Arabia. It is about 50 km (31 mi) west of Abha, in the southwest of Saudi Arabia. The village is more than 900 years old. The village had an ideal location through which it linked the people coming from Yemen and the Levant through the Holy City of Makkah and Medina. As a result, it became a regional trade center.
The Saudi Heritage Preservation Society (SHPS) is a Saudi charitable society established on 17 May 2010 and concerned with the preservation of national heritage where the constituent meeting was held in the National Museum of Saudi Arabia. It has been registered by UNESCO as an international nongovernmental organization in safeguarding heritage.
Architecture Of Saudi Arabia was not different in the pre-oil era during the early 1930s from what it was across the past centuries. Construction and building activities followed a simple and modest style back then, as there was a lack of specialized architects in the modern sense. Instead, native communities would erect their own structures manually through the efforts of builders using basic means and local materials in what came to be known as “traditional architecture.” Every region in Saudi Arabia was famous for its own brand of architecture that expressed its artistic taste. Building materials used at that time were sourced from the local environment, such as clay, rock, palm fronds, and wood. Similarly, the architectural styles passed on from generation to generation reflected each region's climatic and environmental conditions.
Rijāl Almaʿ is a speech variety of questionable genetic affiliation spoken in the area in and around the village after which it is named, Rijāl Almaʿ. Amongst the features that make this speech variety so distinctive in the area where it is spoken is the seemingly preserved demonstrative pronominal paradigm from the Sayhadic languages and the presence of the a nasal definite article similar to the proposed modern Sayhadic languages Faifi and Razihi. The speech variety is seemingly gradually being phased out due to increased language convergence with neighboring varieties of Arabic, further complicating the situation regarding where this speech variety belongs within Central Semitic.
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(help) This article appeared on pages 2-9 of the July/August 1998 print edition of Saudi Aramco World.