Rijal Almaa is a village of stone tower houses below Abha, its interiors painted in the Al-Qatt Al-Asiri style.
The houses are dark stone laid in courses with lines of white quartz set into the walls to shed rain, stacked up the mountainside so tightly the village reads as one building from the valley floor.
Inside, the walls carry Al-Qatt Al-Asiri - geometric bands of bright colour painted by the women of the house directly onto the plaster. UNESCO added the practice to its intangible heritage list in 2017. Several houses are open as a museum, with a visitor centre at the village.
Getting there and when to go
Down the escarpment road from Abha. The drive itself is a large part of why people make the trip.
What is here
- Rijal Heritage Village
What the tourism authority says
Rijal Almaa Heritage Village Visitor Center takes visitors on an enriching journey through the history and civilization of Aseer, spanning from prehistoric times to the Saudi era.