The vibrant Janadriyah Annual Heritage and Culture Festival in Riyadh City District is a showcase for crafts from across the Kingdom. It celebrates the cultural traditions that unite this great country, while also revealing the regional differences which create the distinctive character of Saudi individuality.
The festival includes displays of regional architecture, cuisine, craft, markets, dances and folklore. It lasts approximately two weeks and takes place in the winter when the weather is cooler. There are working displays of carpet-weaving, pottery-making, and woodcarving from different regions. Arabian dancers and singers provide entertainment, while reviving all the traditional songs of different regions. There are also displays by the armed forces, and displays of traditional swords and daggers.
I visited it last 2 years and it was great. I would recommend it as a must see event. It is so huge that you cannot see it completely in one day.
The Pictures I took at:
Janadriyah Cultural Heritage Festival 2013: Pictures of the Festival
Janadriyah Cultural Heritage Festival 2012: http://naumankhan.blogspot.com/2012/03/20120212-janadriyah-cultural-heritage.html
Janadriyah Cultural Heritage Festival 2014: Pictures: 20140228-17 - Janadriyah Annual Heritage & Culture Festival 29
Feedback of my last year visit: http://naumankhan.blogspot.com/2013/04/28th-janadriyah-annual-heritage-culture.html
Date: 12 - 28 Feb, 2014
13th to 16th Feb is for Men Only - 3:30pm to 12am (till 2am on Weekends)
13th to 20th Feb is for Students – 9am to 12pm
17th to 28th Feb is for Families Only – 3:30pm to 12am (till 2am on Weekends)
Address: Janadriyah Annual Heritage and Culture Festival,Riyadh
Coordinates: 24.958592,46.794462
Google Maps Link: http://goo.gl/maps/184ur
Event Email: janadria@sang.gov.sa
Event URL: http://www.janadria.org.sa
Social Media:
Organizer:
The National Guard
Phone: +96614038992
Fax: +96614038992
Email Janadria@sang.gov.sa
Website: http://www.sang.gov.sa
Update(18-02-14): We spent about 3.5 hours in Janadriyah Festival yesterday. We entered from the Southern Gate, on entrance there was a small information center on the right, we got the map from there. It gets quite cold by the evening so better to wear appropriate clothes. Most of the people at the counters were able to communicate in English. We covered the following places:
- Ports Authority
- This is a new addition to Janadriyah’s gigantic setup. This area is representing the ports of KSA, it is a 3 stories building in a unique design of containers with a big watch tower near it. It has water and fountains outside. Inside you can see many big sized pictures of historic as well as current ports, ships and boats. Also highly detailed 3D models of actual ships. Before exiting in the right hall you can also get a gift bag. Overall a very good addition to Janadriyah.
- Ministry of Justice
- There was not much on display and everything was in Arabic thus you can skip this one.
- Medical Centre
- It was an actual clinic and there was nothing on display thus skip this one as well.
- Riyadh Municipality
- There we got the information about the big projects under constructions in Riyadh. A huge international garden is under construction in Riyadh. We were given fresh roses here.
- Ministry of Social Affairs
- Many local handicrafts were on display, there were some craftsmen making beautiful crafts live there and then. There was also a stall for free Sugar check.
- Eastern Province
- This is a big area with beautiful models of famous spots/building of Eastern Province. We were warmly welcomed by the authorities there, they gave us a guided tour, also gifted us a customized wooden keychain with my name written on it in Arabic and in Signs Language and a hand bag to my wife.
- Saudi Food and Drug Authority
- It has good information about what is considered as a drug in KSA. Also before exiting they give you a gift bag with mug, calendar and other items. They also have special gift bags from children.
- Technical and Vocational Training Corporation
- This is a stage show with songs and dances.
- The National Guard
- This is not open for public.
- Control
- I'm not sure if where we went was Control section but this section had information about medical facilities available in KSA with information about Hospitals, Weight lose, Healthy and Non-Healthy food, what to do in case of fire and other similar items. They gave us a gift bag and juices.
- Al-Andulas Villas
- Al Dawliah
- Festival Management
- All the above are for the management of festival and its not open for public.
We came back with full of free gifts including Key Chains, Calendars, USB Sticks, Mugs, Informative Material etc. We are planning to visit it again today to cover other areas.
Update(19-02-14): Yesterday it was colder than the day before yesterday, we spent 4 hr. there, we covered the following areas:
- Big Hall
- It is closed so you can skip it.
- King Abdulaziz Hall
- It gives small glimpses of all various cultures of KSA. We bough a big sea shell from there which cost SR15.
- Health Affairs National Guard
- This area is about medical facilities of National Guards.
- I was able to get a free injection for Influenza Vaccination which is good for 1 year. They also gave a gift bag.
- I also got my heart checked for free, they checked
- Good and Bad Cholesterol,
- BP,
- BMI and
- Sugar.
- They also gifted a table clock.
- I also got my eye sight checked for free.
- They also gave us a quick course on what to do in a medical emergency.
- How to perform CPR on Adults, Children and Babies.
- What to do if a person is chocking etc.
- They also gifted us First-Aid kit.
- There was also a small counter in the middle where there were live snakes and scorpions on display behind the glass containers. Some of the most dangerous species were present there.
- Public Market (only some of things)
- We couldn’t cover it completely. The parts we covers had:
- Blood Donation Section. If you are not interested in donating blood then you can skip it.
- Pictures Gallery with historic pictures of KSA. They gave us gift bags.
- SASO section also gave us a gift bag.
- Gulf Oil section has pictures and information about Oil Rigs, they also gave us gift bag.
- Geology Section had many beautiful stones on display with information, they also gave us gift bags. there was also a facility to get your jewelry stones checked.
- Islamic Center had many books on Islam on display and they gift us Quran.
- Stuffed animals of KSA were on display along with pictures of marine life as well.
- Saudi Retirement Association had some stalls for jewelry, small electronics, bags and food on sale. We bought a ring (SR30), a USB cable (SR15 after discount) and some food (SR4)from there.
- There were free books available in different languages about KSA. We gathered around 5/6 books in English.
- There was a Picture Gallery with some really good pics on display.
Again we came back with full of stuff. We are planning to visit it again today to cover other areas.
Update(25-03-14): It got difficult to write reviews about all sections because there were so many of them, the list of places we visited are as follows:
- Civil Defense
- National Anti-Corruption Commission
- Emirate of Northern Border Province
- Bahrain
- Popular Presentations Difference Square
- Saudi Youth Welfare
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- The Management
- Borders Guard
- Royal Commision for Jubail and Yunbu
- Public Pension Agency
- Test Drives
- KIA
- Hyundai
- UAE
- Ministry of Transport
- Armed Forces Exhibition
- Ministry of Interior: They gifted a DVD, it has English subtitles, you can find it on: Ministry of Interior, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
We visited even more places but those are not listed here. Looking forward to this festival next year.
-urShadow
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