The Historical Riyadh City in Saudi Arabia

The author visited the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia three times. The first visit took place from April 20 to April 28, 2008, when, as a member of the delegation of the University of Sarajevo, in the capacity of dean of the Faculty of Architecture, he visited a large number of universities and public institutions related to universities and the general scientific and cultural life in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The second part of the visit was devoted to the possibility of obtaining financial support for the implementation of the project of the University Library in the University of Sarajevo Campus, for which the Faculty of Architecture in Sarajevo had prepared a conceptual solution. This visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was organized at a high level, according to the VIP protocol. In Riyadh, the delegation of the University of Sarajevo officially visited the following institutions: King Saud University, Islamic University, Al Yamamah College, King Abdulaziz Library and National Museum of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In their free time, the delegation visited some newly built centers in Riyadh. The visit to the city of Mecca (via Jeddah) was special. As the delegation was supposed to visit the holy place Kaaba (Mesjidul-Haram) in Mecca, the trip to Mecca was arranged according to the "departure of the Hajj" procedure, so the members of the delegation already in the hotel in Rijeka dressed in "hajj clothes" which consisted of only two robes of white cotton linen. As there were sandstorms in Jeddah in those days (which is not a rare occurrence for this city), the delegation toured the city by driving in cars, and then headed towards Mecca. We knew that we had arrived near Mecca by our encounter with the "Qur'an Gate", a specially designed gate on the Jeddah-Mecca highway, near Mecca. Immediately after arriving in Mecca, after settling in the hotel, the delegation visited the Kaaba (Masjidul-Haram). According to the instructions received earlier, the members of the delegation went through all the procedures of the Kaaba pilgrimage (tour of the holy temple, walking/running from Safa to Marwa and back, "hajj haircut"), after which the further visit to Mecca proceeded according to the "ordinary civil procedure", in civil suits. On the same day, the delegation visited the locality of Minu, also known as Tent City, a place in the plain about 5 km from the Kaaba towards the road to Mount Arefat. On the second day of their visit to the city of Mecca, the delegation visited Umm Al-Qura University. The visit to the College of Engineering and Islamic Architecture was particularly important for the author. After this visit, the delegation from the University of Sarajevo visited the Hajj Research Institute, where members of the delegation learned about the history of the Hajj and the renovations and expansions of the Kaaba complex, from the earliest days to the present day. In the late afternoon, the delegation of the University of Sarajevo returned to Riyadh via the airport in Jeddah. The author's second visit (March 6-7, 2010) to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was related to his participation in the work of the Scientific Committee of The First International Conference on Urban and Architectural Heritage in Islamic Countries (FCUAHIC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 23-28 May 2010. The author's third visit (May 23-28, 2010) to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was related to his participation in The First International Conference on Urban and Architectural Heritage in Islamic Countries (FCUAHIC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 23-28 May 2010, where he presented his work entitled "Vernacular Architecture in Bosnia and Herzegovina"