In Praise of the Artisan

The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture - Ithra is a masterwork of architecture, a towering beacon in the Dhahran skyline. The steel-pipe wrapped building represents five mutually-supporting stones that house its components: a library, cinema, theater, great hall, a four-gallery museum, a soaring tower dedicated to educational facilities, labs, studios and more, along with a creativity lab and the freestanding Energy Exhibit. A prominent and pioneering cultural center, Ithra is a platform
for world-class exhibitions, performances, conferences, cinema and theatrical events. The award-winning center was honored by TIME magazine as “one of the greatest 100 places in the world to visit.”
Ithra is dedicated to fostering the Saudi creative and cultural industries as well as acting as a cross-cultural window to act both as a global platform for talent from the Islamic World and a source of curated international experiences for regional audiences. Ithra’s museum features two galleries
dedicated to Saudi and Islamic culture. The most recent edition of Ithra’s Islamic Art Conference featured renowned international speakers, workshops, demonstrations and 11 exhibitions on the
theme “In Praise of the Artisan” — a deep dive into the evolving Islamic arts landscape and a call to action for supporting traditional craft professions. Ithra’s display examines the practice of waqf — a centuries-old approach to charitable endowment associated with mosques and Islamic institutions.