Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Culture, in partnership with the Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing, announced a new project in early October that will develop and transform Abdul Maqsoud Khojah Street in the Al-Rawdah neighborhood in Jeddah.
Scheduled to be open to the public towards the latter end of 2023, the street is named after Saudi scholar and literary figure, Abdul Maqsoud Khojah, and will be developed into a cultural zone to honor his literary achievements and cultural initiatives in Saudi Arabia and across the Arab world.
Khojah died last year in August at the age of 97, and was considered one of the most influential Saudi cultural figures for his efforts in sponsoring the Saudi intellectual movement. He had a keen interest in collecting and documenting literary works by ancient Saudi writers and his own cultural forum offered over 185 volumes of these works for free. With modern technology, an official website for his forum was launched a few years ago to enable access for those interested in literature.
Aesthetically, the street has been inspired by the infamous cultural forum that Khojah was known to have organized over the course of 40 years under the name, “Al-Ethaninya,” which was attended by local and international writers, thinkers and journalists.
An official from the kingdom’s Ministry of Culture said in a statement, “This cultural initiative aims to perpetuate the efforts of the late writer Abdul Maqsoud Khojah in hosting veterans of thought and knowledge leaders, honoring creators and pioneers, and sustaining the inspiring experience he led.”
The “Al-Ethaninya” project will designate the middle of the street area as a temporary yard in which the movement of cars stops during weekends and resumes as normal once the working week begins.
Being executed in two phased, the first phase will aesthetically transform the street with its pioneering design to make it seem attractive, and sidewalks for pedestrians will be widened. The second phase of the project will be developed in a way to host cultural events including plays, live performances, and literary activities such as “Literary Partner Initiative” that will be hosted in the center of the street, somewhat like a mainstage.
