Najran fortress.
Najran's most outstanding monument, Najran Fort, has all the signature characteristics of the Asir region: mud-brick fortications, fairy-tale turrets, crenellations with whitewash flourishes and small windows suggesting more than they reveal. Throughout the fort (which was also a palace), superbly carved doors and window shutters open onto whitewashed rooms with ceilings supported by palm-trunk beams.
Construction began in 1942 and the fort's 60 rooms were designed to form a self-sustaining complex - perhaps a reflection of the fact that Najran's new Saudi rulers had less than complete faith in the Imam of Yemen's renunciation of the claim to Najran. The fort fell out of everyday use in 1967, when Saudi-Yemeni relations stablised.
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Mada'in Saleh.
Mada'in Saleh is one of the best known archaeological sites in Saudi Arabia. It was once inhabited by the Nabataeans some 2000 years ago, Petra being the capital of the Nabataean kingdom.
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Fish market at Gizan.
Gizan is the capital of the Gizan Province in the far south-west of Saudi Arabia. The city is situated on the Red Sea coast and serves a large agricultural interland.
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Al Khuraiba is one of the sites attributed to the Kingdom of Lihyan, which dominated the area during the period beteween the 6th and 2nd century B.C. There is a large number of tombs, each is a room containing a number of graves or simply a single shaft for one person.
One of the most known tombs is Al Usud (the lions), which is characterized by two lions carved on the side of the tomb.
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At the northern edge of the site, is the Madain Saleh Station of the Hejaz Railway. The complex, built in1907, consists of 16 buildings which include a large workshop (with a restored WWI-era engine), shells of other railway carriages and a rebuilt Turkish fort which served as a resting place for pilgrims travelling to Mecca.
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