Saudi Gazette report RIYADH – Prince Sultan Bin Salman, President of Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), said the commission values highly the religious significance of some historical sites and will not promote them simply as tourism sites. Prince Sultan made the remarks while speaking to reporters on Thursday after chairing the joint meeting of the guidance and consultancy committees under the Program for the Care of Islamic Historical Sites, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Saturday. Prince Sultan, who is also chairman of the guidance committee under the program, said the program aims at bringing the citizens closer to their nation through taking care of historical Islamic sites. “For this, the first thing is bringing the citizens closer to the history of their religion through acquainting them with the historical sites that witnessed the spread of our divine religion. However, the SCTA is also keen to avoid a mix-up of the holy sites and historical sites,” he said. Prince Sultan said the commission launched the program to translate into action the keenness of the Saudi leadership to protect Islamic holy sites and historical sites, especially those related with the life of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). “It reflects the extra care given by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz, deputy premier and minister of defense, to preserve this great nation's rich Islamic history and heritage. The SCTA is making great efforts to document these sites and the landmarks associated with the great eras of Islamic history, in addition to protecting them for academic and Dawa purposes.” According to Prince Sultan, the program is one of the major initiatives introduced by the SCTA, in cooperation with the concerned agencies, universities and prominent people in society, in preserving the nation's heritage. The program will bring about a qualitative leap in maintaining and protecting these historical sites, he said. Referring to the measures taken to protect historical Islamic sites, the SCTA chief said King Abdullah issued in 2008 a royal decree aimed at preventing encroachment on these sites in Makkah and Madinah. The decree also tasked the SCTA with enumerating such sites. “The commission swung into action to implement the decree soon after its issuance in cooperation with the concerned government agencies, specialists, archeologists and historians associated with such sites. Our field teams counted 384 historical sites in the two regions,” he added.
