AN ABANDONED 900-YEAR-OLD MOSQUE IN SAUDI ARABIA JUST REOPENED
It was left abandoned for nearly 20 years. Now, the Al-Atawlah Heritage Mosque in the small village of the same name in Saudi Arabia is open for the world to discover.
The Al-Atawlah Mosque, located 30 kilometers north of the city of Baha is found in the center of the heritage village of Al-Atawlah. It’s one of the oldest mosques in the region, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
Its architecture is most compelling, especially because of its window into the time period that it came from. The mosque was built of irregularly shaped stones with a roof made of trunks of juniper trees.
It accommodates about 130 worshipers and occupies an area of around 300 square meters, complete with a prayer house, the ceiling of which stands on circular wooden pillars. The mosque also has an open courtyard, an ablution place, a water tank and an outside staircase to the roof of the prayer house with which the Muezzin climbs to the roof to call to prayer.
The mosque has two entrances, one on the eastern facade and the other on the northern facade of the mosque.
One of the elderly residents of the village did an interview with the SPA, who indicated the age of the mosque, adding that the mosque’s rehabilitation was carried out in a manner that matched the traditions of the village, eschewing new technologies. The process was a huge boost to the village’s morale, said the man, named Abdulaziz Al-Zahrani.
The mosque’s restoration and rehabilitation were carried out as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s project for historical mosque renovation in the Kingdom.
Earlier on Thursday, Saudi Arabia also reopened a 300-year-old mosque in the Al Ahsa Governate of the Eastern Province of the Kingdom.
The Mosque, the Abu Bakr Mosque, is one of the oldest heritage buildings in the middle of the Al Kut neighbourhood of Al Hofuf, Al Ahsa.
SOURCE: https://www.esquireme.com/content/51919-an-abandoned-900-year-old-mosque-in-saudi-arabia-just-reopened