Middle East Chevron. Saudi Arabia Chevron. Jeddah Chevron. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission. In Al-Balad, the historic center of Jeddah , Saudi Arabia , the chirping of sparrows mingles with the call to prayer from the year-old minaret of the Al-Shafi'i mosque, as it has for centuries. But change is very much afoot. Workers in hard hats and high-visibility vests are busy at work on the coral stone buildings, cordoned off by aesthetically pleasing green temporary fences.
Most of the buildings here date back between and years, when Al-Balad was the main entry point for Muslim travelers arriving by sea on their pilgrimage to Mecca. Three heritage houses, each more than years old and named for the family that formerly lived in them, have been converted into small boutique hotels, the first of their kind in Al-Balad.
One of these is the Bait Jokhdar, which is accessed through an ornately carved wood door. The house has one of Al-Balad's most striking architectural features: the roshan, a traditional Arabic box balcony that's crafted from intricate wood panels called mangours and designed to let in light, provide privacy, and, in some cases, showcase the status of the building's owner. But as oil money reinvented the kingdom, those responsible for maintaining these former symbols of wealth and power moved out of Al-Balad, taking their expertise with them.
However, according to Ahmad Angawi—the founder of Al-Balad's Zawiya 97, a cultural organization with a focus on art, design, and education—traditional crafts in Al-Balad are being revived, in part due to programs from the Ministry of Culture to support them.
An artist himself, Angawi established Zawiya 97 in , though his connections to Al-Balad go back much further. His father, the renowned architect Sami Angawi, had an office here, and the young Ahmad spent his childhood surrounded by artisans and craftspeople.
