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First Look: The Color of Nubia
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AramcoWorld inspires global connections that broaden the appreciation of diverse cultures. We believe in celebrating our shared experiences through engaging and educational stories and content.
Silk Roads Exhibition Invites Viewers on Journeys of People, Objects and Ideas
Arts & Culture
An evocative soundscape envelops visitors as they enter the Silk Roads exhibition at the British Museum in London. Huge screens along one wall project images of landscapes and oceans, while visitors are invited to experience the scents of balsam, musk and incense contained in boxes around the exhibition.
Polish Explorer's Manuscript on Arabia Helps Preserve Cultural Heritage
Arts & Culture
Nearly 200 years after his death, Polish adventurer and poet Waclaw Rzewuski’s manuscript documenting his experience in the Middle East has become important to advancing understanding of 19th-century Bedouin life and customs.
Translating the Qur’an for the Deaf
Arts & Culture
Until a few years ago, the UK’s deaf community was hard-pressed to access the Qur’an. A project to translate the holy book from Arabic directly into British Sign Language is underway—but it comes with challenges to ensure accuracy and comprehensibility.
At Home in the World: A Conversation with Maryam Hassan
Arts & Culture
Growing up in London, at age 13, Maryam Hassan decided she’d move to Chicago one day. The city had glittered in her imagination because she was certain that it bore no resemblance to her hometown.
The Heart-Moving Sound of Zanzibar
Arts & Culture
Like Zanzibar itself, the ensemble style of music known as taarab brings together a blend of African, Arabic, Indian and European elements. Yet it stands on its own as a distinctive art form—for over a century, it has served as the island’s signature sound.
Revival Looms
Arts & Culture
In Georgia Borchalo rugs are making a tentative comeback amid growing recognition of the uniqueness of ethnic Azerbaijani weaving. There’s hope that this tradition can be saved.
Flavors: Batata Chab (Potato Chops)
Food
The Bengalis are famous for their “chops,” or potato croquets eaten as snacks with tea.
First Look: The Color of Nubia
Arts & Culture
As a Saudi photographer with a passion for cultural, human and heritage themes around the world, I strive to make my images windows to the past as well as reflections of the present. When I came across this guesthouse on a visit to Aswan, Egypt, I was taken back to 3000 BCE to ancient Nubia.
Sara Domingos Investigates the Threads of Portugal’s Multilayered Heritage
Arts & Culture
In a cavernous studio beneath the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene, just a 15-minute walk from Lisbon’s Moorish Quarter, a cross-cultural interplay between the Portuguese city’s old Islamic and modern-day traditions manifests under the steady hands of Sara Domingos.
Featured Videos
Sitar Sounds With Alif Laila
- Arts & Culture
What is a sitar? Where did it come from and what kind of sound does it make? With a lifetime of training from leading virtuosos, Alif Laila is one of a few women to achieve international recognition playing the mesmerizing instrument whose sound evokes the musical identity of the greater Indian subcontinent. She is as passionate about music as she is about encouraging other women. Hear her talk about the sitar and play its mesmerizing sounds.
See moreWeaving an oriental carpet tradition in Georgia
- Arts & Culture
In Georgia Borchalo rugs are making a tentative comeback amid growing recognition of the uniqueness of ethnic Azerbaijani weaving. There’s hope that this tradition can be saved. Video by Pearly Jacob and Robin Forestier-Walker
How To Use an Astrolabe
- History
- Science & Nature
How do you use an astrolabe? Writer Lee Lawrence takes you on an adventure as she takes on the greatest computer of its day–the astrolabe. The device helped astronomers, surveyors and navigators calculate height, tell time and aid in direction. But using them took a lot more than typing and swiping.
Read the story "Astrolabe Tech Made...Not So Easy" here.
Video by David H. WellsArt of Islamic Patterns: A Moorish Star Part 2 - Pattern Expand and Color
- Arts & Culture
For our next journey into the art of Islamic patterns, we visit Marrakesh, Morocco, where we find a stunning carved stucco design on a wall in the Qasr al-Bahiyah. The design is framed within a niche topped by muqarnas, the characteristic stalactite-like forms that often articulate the transition from a wall to a dome, a vault or, as in this beautiful example, the upper span of an interior niche. Although woven strapwork and vegetal motifs embellish the star pattern, in this installment in this series we focus only on the underlying geometric scheme: a classic arrangement of 12-pointed stars with equilateral triangles between them.
Read the full story here.
Flavors
- Food
- Recipe
The Bengalis are famous for their “chops,” or potato croquets eaten as snacks with tea.
Learn more