Work underway for Madinah to be capital of Islamic tourism

MADINAH: Work is in full swing to complete the construction of a grand theater to host functions to be held in the holy city, which was selected to be the capital of Islamic Tourism 2017.

The functions will be held under the patronage of Prince Sultan bin Salman, president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH), and will be attended by Madinah Governor Prince Faisal bin Salman.

Members of the organizing committees, engineers, technical workers and other administrators are working to meet the deadline of Feb. 18.

The theater at King Fahd Central Park is considered one of the biggest theaters ever been built in the Kingdom, according to Wafi Al-Qahtani, head of the organizing company.

It is 80 meters wide and circular in shape; it uses video mapping technology, which displays images at the background of the theater simultaneously.

Theater director



Munair Al-Qahtani said the inaugural ceremony will witness a record amount of events experienced by Madinah since the migration of the Awas and Khazraj tribes to Yathrib (Madinah). The tribes arrived through the migration of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) who took it as his residence and made it the source of his message sent down to the era of the founder, late King Abdulaziz. This occurred during King Abdulaziz’s reign in which Madinah enjoyed a prestigious position and sanctity.

The organizing committee held a press conference, announcing the launching of the functions, which will begin on Feb. 18 and will run for one year, to celebrate the selection of Madinah as the capital of Islamic Tourism 2017 by the tourism ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Public and private sector companies are hard working under the supervision of Madinah Governorate and the SCTH.