Ivan and I visited this WHS on our return trip from Al Ahsa Oasis, heading to Buraydah and Ha'il Rock Art, Riyadh being conveniently on our way. So we made a short break in the Ad-Diriyah section, where At-Turaif, the first capital of the Saud dynasty, is located. It was founded in the 15th century, its importance grew in the 18th century, and it was destroyed in 1818 during the Ottoman Empire's attack on Arabia.

Interestingly, even though the royal family regained control of the area, they did not rush into its reconstruction (see Solivagant's review below for more on that). Inscription on the list of world cultural heritage probably helped to solve this dilemma, and at the same time, the concept of the entire Ad-Diriyah neighborhood was devised, which should combine the modern with the old. The plan is to preserve the historic part of At-Turaif and build around it a modern district with shops, restaurants, hotels and a convention center - all in the same clay tones, albeit with more modern architecture.

Unfortunately, it was still a big construction site at the time of our visit. The historical part itself was quite difficult to find, as others (special shoutout to Thomas and Wojciech) have also complained about it. The official parking lot is about a kilometer from At-Turaif, one part of the road is closed, no pointers anywhere. So we just eyeballed the location based on the map and parked in a nearby parking lot intended mainly for workers. We walked about five hundred meters along one of the walls covered with pictures of how amazing Ad-Diryah would look after they're done with it. Finally we saw a wide footpath between two buildings. A group of tourists who were dropped off by their guide at the entrance also confirmed that we were at the right place. As the guard explained to us, in case someone oblivious missed it, they are still reconstructing it, but the ruins of the old city could be seen at least from the viewing area. 

Quite a disappointing visit, but at least there was the viewing area access and apparently, mere weeks after our visit, the site has been opened to the public. Well, there's that.