Saudi Arabia to convert famous street in Jeddah into 'cultural platform'

Dubai: Saudi Arabia has announced a project to convert a famous street in Jeddah into a cultural platform, local media reported.

The project, expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2023, will be developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing. The street located in Al Rawda neighbourhood is named after the late Saudi cultural figure Abdul Maqsoud Khoja.

According to the plan, the street’s centre would be turned into a temporary plaza where traffic will not be allowed over the weekend. It will be designed in a unique style that draws inspiration from the renowned Ithnainiyah Literary Cultural Forum, which Khoja ran for more than 40 years.

The street will host a broad range of cultural events as part of the ministry’s plan, including interactive plays, live artistic and cultural performances, literary and cultural events, and interactive artworks. In addition to carrying out literature-related programmes like the Literary Partner initiative and the Literary Cloud Initiative, the initiative intends to encourage community engagement through arts, mobile library activities and books for all, according to ministry sources.

Abdul Maqsoud Khoja, was an eminent Saudi writer and businessman who died on August 20 this year. He is regarded as an icon of the cultural movement in the kingdom. He has led several cultural and social activities in Saudi Arabia, most notably the establishment of Ithnainiyah Literary Cultural Forum in Jeddah in 1982. He was also the founder-chairman of the Khojah Group, a Jeddah-based real estate development company.