Celebrating Mexico in Riyadh

By SAEED AL-KHOTANI

RIYADH: Prince Sultan bin Salman, head of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), will inaugurate on Monday a photo exhibition of Mexican historical sites at the National Museum in Riyadh.

“We are very much privileged for having organized this exhibition under the patronage of Prince Sultan,” said Mexican Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Arturo Trejo.

“Also we are very happy for bringing to Saudi Arabia this exhibition that consists of around 50 photos of Mexico’s main (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites.”

UNESCO has designated 29 sites in Mexico as being of global historical significance, the largest number of any country in the Western Hemisphere.

Sites include the ancient city of Teotihuacán, home to one of the most massive pyramids in the world. Contrary to conventional belief, the largest pyramid in the world is not in Egypt (Giza is the tallest) but the Great Pyramid of Cholula, large enough to contain over eight kilometers of tunnels made by archaeologists in their search for tombs and other features.

Mexico is also home to several natural and colonial historical sites, such as the historic centers of Mexico City, Oaxaca (wa-ha-ka) and Puebla, the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Michoacan and El Vizcaino Whale Sanctuary in Baja California.

Trejo said the photo exhibit in Riyadh will highlight “Mayan, Aztec and other Pre-Columbian cultures over 3,000 years of history.”

The exhibit includes images from Mexico’s rich colonial past, he added, which underscores Mexico’s cultural mix of Native American, Spanish and Moorish traditions.

“We hope that this ten-day exhibition will give the people in Saudi Arabia who have never been to Mexico a good idea of what Mexico has to offer,” said Trejo.

According to the Mexican Embassy in Riyadh, about 500 visas for leisure and business are issued to Saudis annually.

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