ThePlace: Al-Maqar palace in the Asir region is an architectural marvel

• There are 20 places to enter the palace, and the structure of the building has seven domes each representing the continents of the world

Al-Maqar palace in the Asir region is an architectural marvel. It looks like a fictional palace come to life from the pages of a fantasy book. It erupts tall and beautiful in an otherwise subtle city.
The palace is illuminated with lights that make it appear to glow. As Asir is a cold region, in the winter fog looms around the castle, adding to the dreamy view.
After marveling over the beauty of the exterior, visitors can enjoy the inside of the place. It took 35 years to build and used more than two million natural stones from the mountains of the Asir region in its construction.
A citizen inspired by Andalusian palaces built it and collected Islamic artifacts dating back to the Abbasid, Umayyad and Ottoman periods.
To some the interior may look more like a private collection than a museum, with 16 million Islamic decorations gathering dust on the shelves. The artifacts were collected by Mohammed Al-Maqar Al-Shehri, who traveled the world finding items to add to his collection.
Considering what it has to offer, the museum does not get as much recognition as it should.
There are 20 places to enter the palace, and the structure of the building has seven domes each representing the continents of the world. The museum itself stands on 365 columns, each dedicated to each day of the year.
The attention to detail in the museum is outstanding. Each floor is dedicated to the era from which the artifacts are from, making it a rare Saudi landmark in the 21st century.
The museum is home to many Islamic manuscripts on medicine, astronomy and mathematics. It also has the first record of the handwritten manuscript of the Qur’an. In addition, there are a few thousand manuscripts to view.
The museum opens a window on Islamic and Arabic history and takes the visitor on a journey back in time.