Stone tower houses
Up to eight floors.
Richard Mortel — CC BY 2.0 · Shijan Kaakkara — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Heritage Commission — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Muhammad Sobri — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Heritage Commission — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Shijan Kaakkara — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Richard Mortel — CC BY 2.0 · Saudi Press Agency (SPA) — CC BY-SA 4.0
A heritage village in a green valley in the Rijal Almaa governorate, about 50 kilometres west of Abha, more than 900 years old. It stood on the route linking Yemen with Mecca, Medina and the Levant, which made it a regional trading centre. The village has around 60 multi-storey buildings of stone, clay and wood, some up to eight floors high, with brightly painted wooden windows. Inside, the walls are decorated with «Al-Qatt Al-Asiri», bold geometric patterns in vivid colours painted by the region's women. In the middle of the village, the Rijal Almaa Heritage Museum occupies the Al Alwan Palace, a building of several floors more than four centuries old. It shows over 2,000 antiquities, manuscripts, tools and weapons in nineteen sections; the villagers founded their first museum here in 1985. Visitors come from Abha on a winding mountain road that drops down to Tihamah. Wear comfortable shoes for the steep stone lanes, and check the museum's hours and fees locally.
Up to eight floors.
Painted walls inside.
Over 2,000 objects.
Rijal Almaa governorate, about 50 km west of Abha
About 50 kilometres west, on a mountain road down to Tihamah; it makes an easy day trip from Abha.