Innovating Documentary Heritage for Sustainable Development in AlUla and Saudi Arabia

UNESCO and the Kingdoms Institute are organizing a conference on Innovating Documentary Heritage for Sustainable Development in AlUla and Saudi Arabia.

The two-day hybrid event aims to provide a platform for dialogue addressing the state of documentary heritage in Saudi Arabia and the Arab world, sharing knowledge, skills and generating opportunities for cooperation for:

• promoting the global significance of Saudi Arabian documentary heritage and that of the Arab Region;

• building capacities for the identification, preservation and accessibility of documentary heritage among memory institutions in the Arab Region;

• strengthening regional networks among policymakers and memory institutions in the Arab Region.

The conference will focus on the following central question:

How can innovative approaches in the preservation of documentary heritage be used to bolster sustainable development at national and regional levels?

This will be addressed by:

• exploring the global significance of Arab documentary heritage;

• exploring emerging technologies for digitising and managing documentary heritage;

• providing comparative perspectives on the needs and roles of memory institutions;

• utilizing documentary heritage for educational programmes;

• fostering alliances between memory institutions and government bodies;

• integrating indigenous perspectives and practices through community engagement.

The conference will involve two days of plenary sessions, keynote speeches and presentations on specialized subjects. It will begin with a broad thematic focus on the Arab Region, before delving into AlUla and Saudi Arabia's documentary heritage within the regional context.

An exhibition entitled "Words on Memory: A Window into Saudi Arabia's Documentary Heritage" will take place from 28 April to 2 May 2025 in Salles des Actes, at UNESCO's Headquarters in Paris, France. The exhibition will showcase innovative forms of engaging the general public with documentary heritage, as well as displaying selected items from Saudi Arabia provided through the collaboration with Saudi Arabian memory institutions.

The work of UNESCO's Memory of the World (MoW) Programme and the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) is part of a broad partnership between UNESCO and RCU. Since 2021, both institutions have been committed to safeguarding and promoting AlUla's natural and cultural heritage while ensuring sustainable planning, management and development. This collaboration fosters the exchange of expertise, strengthens capacities and advances documentary heritage preservation efforts both within Saudi Arabia and globally.