AlUla's Rawi Storytellers Get a UNESCO Paris Show Until Aug 31

A rawi is a carrier. In classical Arabic literary tradition the poet composed and the rawi memorised, which is how most of that poetry survived to be read at all. In AlUla the word now belongs to the guides who walk visitors through the heritage sites, and 21 photographs of them are hanging in Paris until the end of the month.

I Am a Rawi: Sharing Stories of AlUla, presented by UNESCO with the Royal Commission for AlUla, gathers images shot at Hegra, AlUla Old Town, Dadan and Jabal Ikmah. The rawis shaped the show themselves, down to which stories made the cut.

Six of them travelled to UNESCO headquarters in February 2025 and helped design the Live Museum model that came out of it, a way of running a museum as a conversation. AlUla's version is called Qissa bi Qissa, Swap a Story.

Two rawi leaders, Adel Alanazi and Amal Aljohani, flew back for the opening week and led tours for more than 100 people. UNESCO now plans a guide for heritage professionals worldwide, built on what AlUla worked out first.

On view at UNESCO headquarters in Paris until 31 August 2026.