AlUla's mystery and ancient beauty showcased in Assouline's new travel tome

Ancient oases and Nabatean kingdoms feature in the book

Interactive artwork, One Two Three Swing!, by Superflex, at Desert X AlUla 2020. Photo: Conor McCann and Paris Verra

Maraya reflects the spectacular landscape and unmatched heritage of AlUla. Photo: Fayez Nureldine/ AFP / Getty Images

Appreciating the terrain of AlUla from a different perspective. Photo: Royal Commission for AlUla

The Tomb of Lihyan Son of Kuza, Hegra’s largest tomb, is approximately 21 metres tall. Photo: Leo Morgan / Alamy Stock Photo

Illustrated map of AlUla. Photo: Amy Elena Nash / Assouline

Overlooking the pool, Tama at Habitas serves dishes prepared with local ingredients and spices. Photo: Habitas AlUla / Kleinjan Groenewald

Habitas AlUla hosts performances by local percussionists, who share the art of traditional folklore drum circles. Photo: Habitas AlUla / Kleinjan Groenewald

A polo match at AlUla Habitas. Photo: Sam Churchill

Canyon Villa at Habitas AlUla, nestled in the Ashar Valley. Photo: Kleinjan Groenewald / Habitas AlUla

The citrus grown in the AlUla Oasis includes Helou lemons, Jaffa oranges, Succari oranges, torounge, Boussora oranges and clementines. Photo: Royal Commission for AlUla

Colourful hot-air balloons dot AlUla’s skies during Winter at Tantora. Photo: Royal Commission for AlUla

Rashed AlShashai’s A Concise Passage, on display at Desert X AlUla 2020, allowed viewers to enter the artwork. Photo: Lance Gerber / Desert X AlUla

Delicious spread at AlNakheel Cafe in Old Town AlUla. Photo: Royal Commission for AlUla

The archaeological site of Hegra has existed nearly undisturbed for 2,000 years. Photo: Tuul and Bruno Morandi / Alamy Stock Photo

The orange trees benefit from the shade of the palm trees, allowing them to flourish. Photo: Royal Commission for AlUla

A visit to the AlUla Old Town Market is to step back in time a thousand years, to the days of merchants and the historic trade routes. Photo: Royal Commission for AlUla

Quaint haven among rows of palms. Photo: Royal Commission for AlUla

Luxury publisher Assouline has released a new travel book on Saudi Arabia’s ancient oasis city.

AlUla Ever, available across the GCC as of Thursday, is the latest addition to Assouline’s Travel Series.

Written by French journalist Jerome Garcin, the book is designed to give readers a front-row seat to AlUla’s palm-lined oases, Unesco-listed treasures and desert-surrounded abodes. A vast collection of original photographs in the book showcase the destination’s rock-strewn landscapes and dune-filled vistas.

There’s also a focus on AlUla’s vibrant arts and culture scene, including dazzling images of Maraya Concert Hall, the world’s largest mirrored building.

A fusion of old and new, AlUla is a luxury destination where culture and history combine with modernity and innovation. Having only recently opened to international visitors, the ancient region spans some 200,000 years of human history. This new book gives travellers the chance to see what’s in store in the district that is part of north-western Saudi Arabia’s Madinah province.

Tracing the sands of time over each civilisation that has touched this place, the book highlights several of AlUla’s well-preserved monuments that will appeal to history-seeking travellers.

It highlights Hegra, Saudi Arabia’s first Unesco World Heritage Site, and Jabal Ikmah, the world’s largest open-air library that’s filled with hundreds of centuries-old inscriptions, carved on to golden stone. The site was recently inscribed on Unesco's Memory of the World list.

AlUla Old Town also stars in the book. Consisting of a labyrinth of narrow streets lined with mud-brick buildings that were inhabited from around the 12th century until the 1980s, the town has been carefully preserved, restored and renovated, and now welcomes travellers to visit.