Qurh: AlUla's Historic Stop for Pilgrim, Trade Caravans

Nestled about 20 km south of AlUla's old town, near the village of Mughayra, Qurh was a vital hub for pilgrims and traders throughout the ages, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
As one of the Royal Commission for AlUla's archaeological sites, Qurh features prominent architectural structures. Qurh's ruins boast remnants of architectural structures, marketplaces, streets, and palaces which perfectly highlight the city's once-thriving economic and urban life.
Interestingly, those architectural features which date back to the early Islamic periods indicate that settlement and cultural growth were in progress even after the advent of Islam.
The historian Hisham bin Al-Kalbi noted that Qurh was the capital of Wadi Al-Qura and a center for Arab markets. Al-Kalbi also described it as a commercial and cultural center and a cradle of the arts.
Meanwhile, Abdulrahman Alsuhaibani, the RCA's Vice President for Culture stated that the excavations in Qurh serve as a living proof 'that there was some interaction with China at the beginning of the Islamic period.'
'Evidence exists of interactions and trade extending as far as China,' he said in an interview produced by FT Longitude in partnership with the RCA.
'With China, for example, (there were) merchants who brought porcelain, medicines and silk to Arabia with incense for sure, ivory, while other valuables travelled in the opposite directions,' Alsuhaibani added.
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