"Riyadh - My Home in 1960-61" Riyadh by Slooper

As part of a very small military group, I spent a year as a young man in the very rapidly developing desert city of Riyadh. During this time I took many photos. Although much has changed, I have uploaded most of the pictures to our family's web site to share a little history of this area. Browsing through my Old Middle East photo albums you can find many views of places, people and events from those early days. This sharing of old photos on our family's web site was suggested by my youngest son Patrick and led to a most interesting chain of events - culminating in a return visit to Riyadh 45 years later!

Northern outskirts of Riyadh, 1960

This photo includes the aerial view of the Saudi Ministry of Defense & Aviation where I worked as a young (24 year-old) drafted Army Specialist (who left the Service after this overseas assignment). Diagonally across this photo runs the main road north out of the old city of Riyadh to the then only airport. It was called Airport Road on which new KSA Ministry buildings were located. This road is now called King Abdul Aziz Rd. and is in the center of the huge metropolitan city of Riyadh (approximately 5 million population).

Keith presents photos to Prince Sultan bin Salman

Yes! I returned with my wife in November 2005. I hand carried my photos to Riyadh and was able to see first hand the tremendous changes that have come about in this city over the past years.

I donated the original photographs, along with higher resolution digital images, to Al-Turath, a non profit foundation, located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, who will work to put a complete copy at the Saudi National Archive for Historic Photographs at the King Fahad Library. For permission to use these images from this collection for commercial or publication purposes, please contact Al-Turath directly via their contact site.

I thank Prince Sultan bin Salman (President of the foundation), Dr. Zahir Othman (Director General of the foundation) and Al-Turath staff for the gracious hosting during our stay. Several photo albums from this 2005 Riyadh visit can be found indexed at this WheelerFolk.org web site.
Related comments and some nice photos are presented on this Al-Turath foundation page:
"Mr.Wheeler's memories by word and photo"
We thank the many VT members who encouraged and supported us in making this trip.

• Pros:Hospitable people & Historical preservation endeavors
• Cons:Huge metropolis - easy to get lost for short time visitor
• In a nutshell:I experienced warm Arab hospitality when it was a small city in 1960 - In 2005, nearing 5 mil. population, old charm and personal warmth can still be found along with the progress & growth in this modern city.