Mantaqat Qasr Alhokm:

A Twentieth-Century Development

Dr. Abdulrahman Bin Mohammed Alangari

Introduction:

The traditional architecture of the city of Riyadh is specific and local, a characterization that of course applies to most traditional settlements around the world, at least in cases where they display unity and homogeneity. Sometimes such settlements actually share the same architectural elements (city walls and gates, streets, city centre, and neighbourhoods), depending on their political status, economy, social structure, and natural setting. This traditional character is due to a number of factors:

1. In a homogeneous society everyone shares the same beliefs;

2. changes and development are slow;

3. outside cultural influence is limited;

4. transporting building materials is expensive; and

5. most importantly, financial resources are limited.

At a later stage the unity of these traditional settlements has been challenged by modern technology (cars, steel, concrete, air-conditioning, communication technology, and so on) and new social conventions, a greater acceptance of individuality, and a growing influence from other cultures and societies. People were more exposed to ideas from other cultures; transporting building materials became easier, which made the choice that could be made among them much greater; and, last but not least, the increase in individual wealth gave people freedom of choice in building materials and construction techniques. All of these factors broke down the unity and homogeneity of traditional settlements.

Riyadh was one such traditional city. It had its own building style and character. In the 1950s, with the increase of wealth following the discovery of oil in commercial quantities in 1938, experiencing a more far-reaching impact from other cultures became inevitable. Engineers and architects from the Arab world started to practise in the region, and the transport of materials was facilitated by the railway between the Eastern Province and Riyadh opened in 1951 and by the opening of the airport in 1953. It was at this point that the homogeneity of the city started to break down, with this trend reaching a peak in the middle of the 1970s, when most of the city’s new planning and design bore no relation to the character of other, more traditional parts of the city.

Mantaqat Qasr Alhokm is the most important area in the Kingdom after the two holy mosques; it occupies 95 per cent of the total area of the old city. Its importance sprang from its historical background, since this was where his Majesty King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz started his mission to unify the Kingdom; thereafter it became the centre of government and the capital of Saudi Arabia. The term ‘Mantaqat Qasr Alhokm’ means ‘the Ruling Palace Area’,¹ which signifies the importance of the ruling palace in our culture: in the past, the ruling palace was the centre of government, the administrative centre, and the home of the treasury, as well as the ruler’s residence.

In the middle of the 1970s plans were initiated to rejuvenate Mantaqat Qasr Alhokm in a style that would preserve its authentic nature as the centre of the capital and of the nation as a whole. Many of these plans met with obstacles and opposition; but eventually the government succeeded in developing the area in a style that gave it a strong architectural identity that is only to be found in the Nejd region.

‘A twentieth-century development’ stands as the subtitle for this chapter, because who could have imagined that the town would expand from less than one square kilometre at the beginning of that century into almost 2000 square kilometres at the present time? Within a single century the city of Riyadh has seen a growth and development as rapid as that of any other city around the world. And at the heart of this city is its vibrating centre: Mantaqat Qasr Alhokm, which houses the political, administrative, commercial, religious, and residential centres of the city as a whole.

In this chapter we illustrate and document the architectural and physical evolution of Mantaqat Qasr Alhokm from 1902, when King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz conquered the city, up to the present time, laying stress upon the most important decisions and actions that have affected the physical evolution of the area.

The Birth of a Nation

Mantaqat Qasr Alhokm has housed the seat of government from the time of the Second Saudi State. Riyadh became the capital of the Saudi State in 1824, when Imam Turki bin ‘Abd-Allah (–1833) captured the city and used it as his base.

On 5 Shawwal 1319 AH (15 January 1902) King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz (1880–1953) arrived in Riyadh from Kuwait with 63 of his close friends and allies.² He and seven other men went into the city, hiding overnight in the house of Àjlan³ the Governor, which stood in front of the al-Masmak building (the Governor’s palace). There he was joined by the rest of his team. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz asked Àjlan’s wife what time he was expected to return from al-Masmak, to which she replied that he was expected back in the morning. Àjlan was late in leaving the palace. When he did emerge the custodian of al-Masmak opened the main door⁴ and ‘Abd al-‘Aziz walked with his allies towards it. Àjlan had come out with ten other men and was walking to his house, where ‘Abd al-‘Aziz had stayed that night. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz and his men ran towards al-Masmak. Àjlan saw what ‘Abd al-‘Aziz was doing and tried to retrace his steps, upon which ‘Abd al-‘Aziz shot Àjlan but did not kill him. He ran back towards the main gate,⁵ which was already shut, except for a small opening in the main fortress door called al-Khokhah,⁶ through which Àjlan squeezed his way inside, though ‘Abd al-‘Aziz had grabbed his feet. But Àjlan managed to get inside. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz wanted to follow him through the small door, but ‘Abd-Allah Bin Julawai was closer. He succeeded in entering al-Masmak and killed Àjlan. Ten men seconded Ibn Julawai by opening the main gate, and the rest of the group followed. Àjlan’s followers inside al-Masmak numbered 80 men, while the allies of ‘Abd al-‘Aziz only amounted to 40. As the fight inside the palace intensified, half of Àjlan’s followers were killed and the rest surrendered. Then ‘Abd al-‘Aziz proclaimed himself as the new Amir (Governor) of the town, after which he ordered the rebuilding of the town wall. This task was finished within five weeks.⁷

The Physical Description of the Old City

The traditional architecture of the city of Riyadh reflected the faith, culture, and philosophy of generations of people; their continuing reinterpretation of a variety of rules and principles led them to adopt an urban form that met their physical needs, although the harsh climate of the Nejd region had forced people to adapt their building arrangements to protect themselves to the best of their economic ability and to the extent allowed by local resources. People maximized their use of local materials, and this in turn blended the natural and the physical environments and gave a regional identity to their environment. The city’s physical structure is a complex of cul-de-sacs and narrow twisting thoroughfares, often covered in by structural projections. The lower floors of houses are hidden from the gaze of passers-by. Windows are obstructed by gratings, screens, or shutters, assuring privacy from the exterior, while at the same time allowing the inhabitants to look out without being seen. However, the use of local building materials and local construction techniques helps to harmonize the natural and the built environments, minimizes the cost of constructing new buildings and reduces the cost of building maintenance and repairs. Another advantage is an improved ecological balance resulting from the re-use of building materials after an edifice’s demolition.

Al-Sharia and good practice maintained a set of building principles and guidelines that gave an identity to Islamic cities. Its principles stress the importance of satisfying the individual without harming others. The Qur’an and the Sunna forbid israf (wasteful extravagance). According to a Hadith, it is not acceptable to waste water while washing for prayer, even when one is beside an abundantly flowing river. These prohibitions teach Muslim society to minimize its wastage of all kinds of resources.

Climate was the main determinant in shaping the physical structure of the city. Hence the main physical characteristic of traditional Nejdi cities was a compact overall volume, with narrow winding streets and closed vistas. This street pattern helps to regulate the temperature by retaining the cool night air during the day. If the streets were wide and straight, the cool air would heat up after sunrise, or be blown away by the wind. Moreover, this irregular and narrow street pattern creates a large amount of shade, which protects people from the heat of the direct sun. A common feature of the built environment in the city is the use of party walls between neighbours, which minimize the exposure to direct sunlight, and assist financially by limiting building expenses. The only disadvantage of such sharing of walls is the lack of acoustic privacy.

Traditional Nejdi buildings used a number of typical local methods to moderate the effects of the hot climate: thick walls, which help keep the inner rooms cold during the summer and warm during the winter; small openings, which minimize the access of hot air into the rooms; orientation towards the prevailing winds, to provide ventilation; and utilization of the ground-floor rooms as sleeping quarters in the winter, the roof terrace being used in the summer.

The total area of the city of Riyadh did not exceed one square kilometre, and the general description of the town was summarized by Gerard Leachman, a British traveller, arriving in Riyadh in December 1912. He thus described the physical setting of the town and its surroundings:

This town ... lies in a depression 100 feet below the surrounding plain, and, together with its suburbs and date gardens, stretches for 2 miles north and south, while its southern extremity touches the Wadi Hanifa, here known as el Batin. The town, which is completely embedded on three sides in dense date gardens, is also surrounded by a massive wall of recent construction with towers every few hundred yards, some of them commanding the various gates of entry. On the north-west is situated an extensive cemetery traversed by the great roads leading to Mecca and to Hasa.⁸

Leachman continued by describing the gates, the main streets, the main saha (or public open space), and the King’s palace:

Entering the town by a high gateway having iron-studded wooden doors,⁹ we passed through a number of quiet by-streets and then suddenly emerged into a broad square with a bazaar in which business was at its height at this noontide hour of the day; as we passed through many curious eyes were fixed on us, and then we came to a large open space flanked on the right by a lofty castle, which proved to be the palace of abd el Aziz ibn Saud, the Wahabi Emir of Nejd.¹⁰

Leachman described people looking at his party when they entered the city in 1912, showing that the local inhabitants were not accustomed to seeing foreign visitors to the town. It is clear that any external cultural influence was very limited.

The name al-Riyadh means ‘the garden’, and it is interesting that Leachman’s description for the natural setting of the town refers to its being surrounded by palm groves. The recently constructed city wall mentioned by Leachman was the one that had been rebuilt by King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz when he conquered the city.

The Main Elements of the Old City

Riyadh, like most Islamic-Arab cities, is made up of a number of main elements: city walls and gates, streets, the Masjid al-jamia and other mosques, the main saha (square), the souk (market), and various neighbourhoods (Figure 12.1), the relationship between these elements determining the unique character of the city. In the case of the old town, a strong relationship between these elements gave a special identity and coherence to the city.¹¹

§ Figure 12.1 about here

§ Figure 12.2 about here

Philby’s¹² plan of 1919 (Figure 12.1) shows no details of the town; but the aerial photograph of the centre of Riyadh in 1967 (Figure 12.2), with the line of the old city’s walls superimposed where they are known to have run shows it in accurate detail, and from this photograph we can envisage the physical setting, and cross-refer to the map. The following sections constitute a general description of the main elements of the city.

The City’s Wall and Gates (al-Sur and al-Bawabat )

Most Islamic-Arab cities had a fortified city wall with city gates to regulate visitors. The main function of the city wall was defence. The city of Riyadh has nine gates (Figure 12.1). These gates were always shut at the time of prayer and after sunset, to be re-opened at sunrise. Of the city’s nine gates, the most important was Al-Thumairi. From this gate there is a direct and wide street¹³ leading visitors to the heart of the town, where the Grand Mosque, the Souk, the saha, and the king’s palace are situated. Philby¹⁴ describes his impression of the sur (city wall) when he first visited Riyadh in 1917:

The city is completely encircled by a thick wall of coarse sun-baked mud-bricks, about twenty-five feet in height and surmounted by a fringe of plain shark’s-tooth design at frequent intervals. Its continuity is interrupted by imposing bastions and guard-turrets, circular for the most part and slightly tapering towards the top, but some few square or rectangular, varying from thirty to forty feet in height and generally projecting slightly outwards from the wall-line for greater facility of defence (Figure 12.3).¹⁵

§ Figure 12.3 about here

§ Philby’s description of the city wall and the gates continues:

The perimeter of the wall is pierced in nine places by gateways [Figures 12. 1 and 12. 2], some of which have ceased to be in regular use except as means of access to the walled palm-groves in their vicinity; of the others the most important are the Thumairi and Dhuhairi gates, the first situate on the east side of the city and serving as a regular outlet to the main tracks to the north and east and also to the southern road towards Manfuha, while the other at the north-west corner gives access to the north-western route to Washm and the Qasim and to the western pilgrim road to Mecca … (Figure 12.4).¹⁶

§ Figure 12.4 about here

§ The Streets (al-sharia)

The planning of streets in the city was mainly the result of climatic factors, whilst also reflecting patterns of movement and traffic. The principal physical characteristic of traditional Nejdi cities was their narrow winding streets with closed vistas. As Facey mentions in his book Riyadh, the Old City, Amin Rihani¹⁷ believed that the streets of old Riyadh were much the same as those of other Arab cities.¹⁸ Philby confirmed this, saying:

The internal arrangement of the streets is without symmetry except for the natural convergence already mentioned of all main traffic lines on the central enclave; the chief street is that which leads in a straight line from the Thumairi gate to the palace and thence through the market-place to the Budai’a outlet, with a branch going off from it at right angles from the western end of the Souq to the Dhuhairi gate [Figures 12.1, 12.2 and 12.5].¹⁹

Moreover, the streets in Riyadh played an important social role, since they were where people met and talked. It was common to see old people sitting in the morning and in the afternoon at the side of the local roads talking with friends; passers-by would usually also talk to them.

The City Centre

The city centre is the most vital and important part of the city. It contained many focal elements, viz. the Souk, the Masjid al-Jamia and the King’s Palace (Figure 12.1). The centrality of these elements within the city meant that all the city’s residents had a limited travelling distance to them from all their various neighbourhoods.

The Grand Mosque (Al-Masjid al-Jamia )

The masjid plays an important role in all Islamic cities, and the mosque at Madinah is the earliest mosque in Islam. It was a centre for worship, a court of justice, an intellectual and educational centre, and an administrative centre during the establishment of Islam. Such a complex institution, serving so many purposes, had to be in a central location corresponding to its importance. This affected the urban form of the city, causing all the main roads to focus upon it.

§ Figure 12.5 about here

Since Riyadh was a small town by comparison with other Arab cities, the minaret was correspondingly small. To some extent this reflects the simplicity of the local style (Figures 12.1 and 12.6). Philby describes the Masjid al-jamia and its architecture as follows:

The Great Mosque or Jami’a of Riyadh is a spacious rectangular enclosure about sixty yards by fifty in area, whose main entrance faces the Suq through a gap in the row of shops lining its southern wall [Figure 12.6], while the Qibla or prayer-direction, by which the whole building is oriented, is marked by a very slight south-westerly bulge in the longer western face, near which as also on the east side is a subsidiary entrance. The internal space is divided into three sections, of which the central one forms an open court occupying about a quarter of the whole building, while the other two are covered by low flat roofs supported on several rows of massive stone pillars to form Liwans or cloisters for the convenience of worshippers during the hot hours of the day; the inward faces of these cloisters towards the central open court form colonnades of pointed arches of typical Wahhabi architecture and of considerable merit [Figure 12.7], though the workmanship is rough and simple; the Liwan on the Qibla side occupies about half of the whole enclosure, leaving the remaining quarter to the other; the roofs are without ornamentation, being encircled by a low parapet, with a low stepped structure of very ungainly appearance near the centre of the north side to serve as a minaret … .²⁰

Another structure found in Nejdi mosques is an underground prayer space called al-Khalwah. This may occupy almost the entire space beneath the prayer-hall. This space is used for prayer in the wintertime, because of its warmth. Facey refers to Amin Rihani, who says of this space in his description of the mosque ‘under the mosque is a replica of the surface structure for the winter’.²¹ This was an example of how people in the Nejd region developed structural solutions to meet their needs – although the architecture is very simple, they developed a variety of architectural solutions for different problems. The simplicity of the mosque design was derived from the simplicity of the people, and from the injunctions of the Qur’an that encour