Diriyah Culture: Doors

In Saudi Arabia, each region unfolds its distinctive traditions, artistry, and architecture. Diriyah Culture: Doors, expertly documented by photographer Laziz Hamani, invites you into the heart of Diriyah, the ancestral home of the Saudi royal family. This visual odyssey focuses on the unique art of adorning doors, a timeless tradition that speaks to Diriyah’s rich cultural tapestry. Earlier in Diriyah’s history, doors were distinguished by their simple engravings, which consisted of triangles and points. With time, advanced geometric elements and shapes such as circles, arches, rhombuses, and crescents, as well as vegetal and linear motifs, were introduced, forming sleek, elegant patterns interspersed with more complex patterns such as flowers, bunches of grapes, and hexagonal shapes. All these elements were cleverly adapted by artisans in a simple manner, either by enlarging the size of an element or by using different colors and shades, or through the number of repetitions. Through Hamani’s lens, these doors become more than embellishments—they are living testaments to the city’s grandeur, adorned with details that narrate the story of Diriyah’s prosperity beneath the embrace of the Saudi State.