Russians take hypothetical trip to Saudi Arabia

Using augmented reality technology, organizers of the Saudi cultural exhibition, ongoing in Moscow on the fringes of the current visit of King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud to the Russian Federation, created a rare opportunity for exhibition visitors to travel within minutes on a hypothetical trip to what most of them thought in the past was no more than a desert country and home of Islam’s sacred places.
Using Arabic, English and Russian, the film takes its viewers to the ancient city of Al-Dareya, capital of the first Saudi state, the two holy cities of Makkah and Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah, and Madaen Saleh.
A plastic arts exhibition, displaying a collection of 54 works by more than 34 Saudi female and male classic and modern artists, stunned Russian visitors, with most of them expressing surprise to see modern arts flashing from what they imagined was a totally different country.
In interviews with SPA, Aisha, a Russian woman who visited Saudi Arabia in 2010, said the view is now quite different and fast developing. Seva, a female physician, was impressed by the plastic arts exhibition’s high level, wishing to visit the Kingdom. Nataya, a 74-year old female visitor, described the exhibition as summarizing the Kingdom in terms of history and Islam, wishing to learn more about the Kingdom’s future plans emanating from Vision 2030.
For his part, Vladimir Mokarinka, 66 years old, said the Kingdom, as well as the state visit of the king, received high-profile interest by the Russian media. What is new is the cultural exhibition which highlighted the situation of the arts in the Kingdom, he told SPA.
Yuvkenya, 77, was attracted by a drawing portraying the tombs of the Madinah-based Prophet’s mosque, expressing a desire to know more about what she formerly thought was just a desert country according to geography, but now, as she put it, the Kingdom is witnessing an unprecedented boost during the era of King Salman according to what she could see and hear, congratulating the Saudi people on their developments.
Saudi cultural week in Russia was co-opened by Saudi Minister of Culture and Information Dr. Awwad Al-Awwad and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Rosteslavovich, and attended by a host of intellectuals, thinkers and media representatives from the two countries.