ALULA, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Arts AlUla announced a key milestone in the development of its newest cultural initiative. The AlUla Contemporary Art Museum was officially named and its vision revealed on 31st January during the launch of Arduna, the first exhibition presented by the institution.
AlUla, a cultural oasis located 1,100 km from Riyadh in North-West Saudi Arabia, is renowned for its extraordinary natural beauty and rich human heritage, including Hegra, Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site. Arts AlUla is dedicated to celebrating cultural heritage and shaping a future for AlUla propelled by creativity.
Designed as a dynamic platform for engaging audiences through exhibitions, commissions, residencies, research, and publications, the AlUla Contemporary Art Museum will bridge AlUla’s rich heritage with contemporary artistic ideas, fostering global dialogue. The Museum is committed to a truly international exchange, reflecting AlUla’s role as a cultural crossroads for millennia.
Architect Lina Ghotmeh will design the Museum’s future physical home as part of Saudi Vision 2030, integrating it within the unique landscape of the AlUla Oasis.
Hamad Alhomiedan, Director of Arts & Creative Industries at the Royal Commission for AlUla, said: “The AlUla Contemporary Art Museum marks another vital chapter in AlUla’s journey, connecting our deep local heritage with the innovations shaping the global art landscape. Rooted in AlUla’s monumental landscape and its people, and through bold commissions, landmark exhibitions, and deep collaborations, we are building a platform that elevates Saudi and regional voices into meaningful dialogue with the world. We look forward to welcoming our community, partners, and visitors to witness the rise of an institution that will shape artistic discourse for generations to come.”
Staged as part of the fifth edition of the AlUla Arts Festival 2026, an annual celebration of art, design, and culture, Arduna brings together both contemporary and modern expressions of creativity. Meaning “our land” in Arabic, Arduna is co-curated by AlUla Contemporary Art Museum and Paris’s Centre Pompidou with the support of the French Agency for AlUla Development (AFALULA).
Featuring over 80 works from Saudi Arabia, the wider Middle East, and the world, Arduna explores humanity’s evolving relationship with nature, and includes new commissions and works by renowned artists such as Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky, Manal AlDowayan, Ayman Zedani, and Etel Adnan, among others. Arduna runs from February 1 to April 15, 2026.
Located 1,100 km from Riyadh, in North-West Saudi Arabia, AlUla is a place of extraordinary natural and human heritage. The vast area, covering 22,561km², includes a lush oasis valley, towering sandstone mountains and ancient cultural heritage sites dating back thousands of years to when the Lihyan and Nabataean kingdoms reigned.
The most well-known and recognised site in AlUla is Hegra, the principal southern city of the Nabataean Kingdom and Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site. AlUla is also home to ancient Dadan, the capital of the Dadan and Lihyan Kingdoms and considered to be one of the most developed 1st millennium BCE cities of the Arabian Peninsula, and Jabal Ikmah, an open air library of hundreds of inscriptions and writings in many different languages. AlUla Old Town Village, a labyrinth of more than 900 mudbrick homes was developed from at least the 12th century and has been revitalised as the vibrant hub for visitors and residents.
The creation of Arts AlUla within The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) is a commitment to crafting the next chapters in a millennia of artistic creation – celebrating cultural inheritance and shaping a future inspired by artists built be artists. The work of Arts AlUla seeks to preserve this legacy: fuse the old with the new; the local with the international, keeping the arts central to the spirit of AlUla as a place of extraordinary natural and human heritage.
Wadi AlFann, meaning ‘Valley of the Arts’, will be a global cultural destination for land art, unveiling from 2028 onwards, where era-defining works by artists from around the world will be permanently sited in the monumental landscape of AlUla, the extraordinary desert region of north-west Saudi Arabia.
David Hockney. The Arrival of Spring in Woodgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven), 2011. Arduna, 2026.Centre Pompidou, Mnam-Cci, Paris
Lina Ghotmeh Studio. 2023. Drawings as part of the architecture competition for the AlUla Contemporary Art Museum
Manal AlDowayan. O’Sister, 2021. Royal Commission for AlUla. Gina Pane Untitled, 1970. Centre Pompidou, MNAM 1990, Paris (France). Courtesy of Nick Jackson Photography
Pablo Picasso. Le Printemps (Spring). 20 March 1960. Arduna, 2026.Centre Pompidou, Mnam-Cci, Paris
