The Art of Streets

You can almost hear the sounds, feel the texture and imagine yourself exploring these old streets through this unique collection of old photos. The scene in Taif, from early 1930s, was taken by Karl S. Twitchell, a geologist and an early pioneer who was closely associated with the Saudi Royal family. His images from the 1940s capture a minaret towering over the then quieter streets of Jiddah, a typical day in Qasr Al-Derri in Riyadh,

and then the bustling market with unique architecture and mud houses. The rest of the photographic treasures by different photographers take us back to simpler times on the streets, where people would gather in corners doing business, and donkeys and animals were essential modes of transport. Then slowly with the rise of the cars, the sound of the streets changed, littered with the noise of engines and honks.