PRINCE MICHEL DE YOUGOSLAVIE EXHIBITS ALULA IN KOREA

BY GILLES BASTIANELLI, BIOGRAPHER AND CURATOR OF THE PRINCE

In May 2022, Price Michel de Yougoslavie left to take photos of AlUla in the Saudi desert, in the northwest of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 400 km from Medina, the second holiest city in Islam, after Mecca.

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H.R.H. PRINCE MICHEL DE YOUGOSLAVIE

AlUla is an oasis in the center of a vast pre-Islamic archaeological site previously unknown for religious reasons. AlUla has been a meeting point for various civilizations since ancient times, conveniently located on the trade route between the Arabian Peninsula, the Mediterranean Sea and Asia. What challenges is the density and richness of the remains, as well as the broad chronological spectrum that goes from the Neolithic to the Ottoman period. AlUla is the symbol of Saudi Arabia’s openness to the world. Its objective is to ensure the transition of the kingdom towards a new model of economic and tourist development, centered on the preservation of the environment, respectful of history, territories and the local population, at the service of a tourist experience, authentic, faithful to the hospitality of the Arab world.

By 2030, Arabia aims to position its economy at the level of that of South Korea. The two countries are already in a complementary economic structure - oil against technology and infrastructure. Korean culture is popular there, especially with young Saudis who are crazy about K-pop. Prince Michel de Yougoslavie, photographer and diplomatic adviser, is the special guest of the annual festival of the National Union of Photographers of Korea with his unpublished photos of this unknown world, from September 28 to October 2, 2022, in the extraordinary “Dongdaemun Design Plaza” called the DDP (8 million visitors per year) a gigantic neo-futuristic complex located in the trendy and tourist district of Seoul, a symbol of its urban and architectural modernity. “There is no future without past, is there?” - states Prince Michel de Yougoslavie.

Hegra was created by the Nabataeans, a mysterious people whose empire shone and died 2000 years ago. Witness 111 monumental tombs with decorated facades, dug directly into sandstone massifs, from top to bottom, without scaffolding because of lack of wood in the desert.

Al Diwan (the divan) Square room containing three-stone benches is a triclinium - dining room with sofas on three sides, used in ancient Rome. Places of conviviality and discussion, carved at the entrance of the Sîq (narrow corridor, in Arabic) along about fifty meters inside the highest rock massif of Hegra.

Dadan, 2700 years old, predates the Nabataean civilization, as well as the Roman presence in the Arabian Peninsula. Dadan is considered to be one of the most developed cities of the first millennium BC in Arabia, of which it was probably the capital at the time.

The date palm is the emblem of the Kingdom of Saudi without Arabia. Considered a gift from Heaven, it has been cultivated in the desert for millennia. Date palms make oases exist, wonderful ecosystems created by man.

Nestled 700 m above sea level in the heart of vast sandstone mountains, AlUla is a haven renowned for its date palms, fragrant citrus fruits, crops of wheat, barley, olives, figs and oats. AlUla has thrived on its functioning drainage basin for millennia.