AlUla, the Saudi region of great historical and archaeological wealth located in the northwest of Saudi Arabia, will present in Milan "AlUla — Journey Through Time", the photographic exhibition that highlights its main cultural sites through the photography of well-known Canadian-American photographer Robert Polidori. The exhibition, made up of 30 panels, will be open for free along Corso Vittorio Emanuele II - Milan, from Feb, 25 to March 28, 2021 and will be an excellent opportunity to allow citizens to discover an area still little known in which there are testimonies of 250,000 years of history of human evolution: from prehistory to the present day, passing through the mysterious kingdoms of Lihyan and Dadan, the Nabataeans and the Roman era. The Saudi region of AlUla, with the patronage of the Municipality of Milan and in collaboration with the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, wants to offer the public an exhibition that presents its cultural richness through Polidori's photography, allowing visitors to embark on a fascinating journey through time during which they will be able to deepen the archaeological aspects through digital content accessible from QR codes positioned in the photo captions created by Romolo Loreto, associate professor of the University of Naples — L'Orientale and one of the leading Italian experts of Saudi archaeology. "We hope that Milanese citizens will once again be able to exercise their passion for traveling the world in 2021 and I have no doubt that this photo exhibition will inspire a visit to what is one of the world's most significant heritage and cultural destinations," commented Phillip Jones, chief destination management and marketing officer at Royal Commission for AlUla. "Robert Polidori's images are an excellent way to get a taste of the vast desert landscapes and geological wonders of this region of Saudi Arabia. AlUla is an open-air museum with many stories of past civilizations still untold. Excavations carried out by teams of both Saudi and international archaeologists have recently resumed and over the next few months new discoveries of great importance will be revealed." "There are strong connections historically and culturally between AlUla and Italy and we are delighted to bring this exhibition to Milan at a time when the world has begun to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our Italian friends are great explorers and we know they will be among the first to want to experience AlUla when the time is right," Jones added. "We are pleased to support the initiative of the photographic exhibition 'AlUla — Journey Through Time', an enchanting look at the great cultural wealth of AlUla, one of the most important regions of Saudi Arabia from an historical-archaeological point of view," commented Prince Faisal Bin Sattam, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Italy, Malta and San Marino. "The exhibition offers Italian friends the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of the cultural heritage of the Kingdom and capture a vivid image of a land that testifies to two thousand years of cultural ties between the peoples of the Arabian and Italian peninsulas." Regarding his experience in photographing AlUla, Robert Polidori commented: "The natural environment of AlUla is just amazing and unparalleled, and I was quite taken by that — almost as if it was carved out by a divine power. I try to render what I call an emblematic image, encapsulating the entirety of a subject often by showing its details to represent the whole and vice versa. "Even though every photograph comes from one moment in time, I nonetheless attempt to give it a timeless aspect greater than the temporal context of its initial capture." The AlUla — Journey Through Time photographic exhibition will be presented in Milan and is expected to be exhibited later in other cities. — SG
