The Media Line: Saudi Arabia Opens Ancient Kingdoms Festival 2025 in AlUla  

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Saudi Arabia Opens Ancient Kingdoms Festival 2025 in AlUla  

By The Media Line Staff  

Saudi Arabia opened the Ancient Kingdoms Festival 2025 on Thursday in the northwestern city of AlUla, launching more than two weeks of programming designed to reconnect visitors with the region’s historic civilizations.  

Running from November 20 to December 6, the event is part of the AlUla Moments schedule, a government-supported initiative aimed at expanding cultural tourism and encouraging deeper engagement with the area’s archaeological heritage.  

Organizers selected “Journeys Through Time” as this year’s theme, turning the desert landscape into what resembles an open museum. The program includes guided heritage walks, evening cultural shows, and new artistic installations developed to spotlight the societies that once flourished in the oases and rock-carved settlements of AlUla. Heritage officials say the festival is intended to help audiences better understand the region’s interconnected past, which includes Nabataean, Dadanite, and Lihyanite kingdoms.  

Abdulrahman AlSuhaibani, Vice President of Culture at the Royal Commission for AlUla, said the area represents one of the “complex and often unexpected legacies of ancient North-West Arabia.” He added, “Through this festival, and the activations we deliver year-round, we aim to share this rich history and make it accessible and engaging for everybody, standing as a source of knowledge, inspiration, delight, and enrichment.”  

AlUla, roughly 1,100 kilometers from Riyadh, has become central to Saudi Arabia’s tourism ambitions under Vision 2030. Its most famous landmark, Hegra, was designated the country’s first United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site in 2008 and remains a cornerstone of efforts to attract both domestic and international travelers.