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King Faisal Road (Riyadh)

Roads in Saudi Arabia
Bab al Thumairi, Riyadh, 2023
Bab al Thumairi, Riyadh, 2023

King Faisal Road (Arabic: شارع الملك فيصل), formerly al-Wazir Street (Arabic: شارع الوزير), is a 5 km historic and commercial street in southern Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, running from the east of al-Bateha neighborhood to al-Murabba via Jabrah and ad-Dirah. It was the first road built following the dismantling of the city walls in 1950, whereas the name 'al-Wazir' was derived from the nickname of the country's first finance minister, Abdullah bin Suleiman al-Hamdan, who was better known as Wazīr Kullī Shaīʾ (transl. minister for everything) and played a central role in the road's construction. It was later renamed after King Faisal. The street was once a preferred destination for commercial activity in the city and was also a bustling marketplace for imported and domestic goods.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article King Faisal Road (Riyadh) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

King Faisal Road (Riyadh)
King Faisal Bin Abdulaziz, Riyadh Al Futah District

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 24.641111111111 ° E 46.714444444444 °
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Address

الملك فيصل بن عبدالعزيز

King Faisal Bin Abdulaziz
11131 Riyadh, Al Futah District
Riyadh Region, Saudi Arabia
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Bab al Thumairi, Riyadh, 2023
Bab al Thumairi, Riyadh, 2023
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Al Batʼha (Riyadh)
Al Batʼha (Riyadh)

Al-Batʼha (Arabic: البطحاء, romanized: al-Baṭʼḥāʾ, lit. 'the wide valley'), also simply romanized as Batha, is a colloquial umbrella term used for the agglomeration of certain parts of neighborhoods in downtown Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that are primarily situated along the al-Batʼha Street on the either edge of the now-dried up stream of Wadi al-Batʼha, located between al-Murabba and the Qasr al-Hukm District. It is one of the oldest commercial districts in Riyadh and the financial nerve center of the city's downtown area, covering east of al-Futah and al-Dirah whereas west of al-Amal, Margab, Thulaim and to some extent, al-Oud. It emerged in the 1940s during World War II when a number of Kuwaiti merchants and traders chose to set up an auction market just outside the northeastern fringes of the erstwhile walled town.Besides being a open-air marketplace that hosts a number of large and medium-scale trading centers, the surrounding locality has been the heart of the city's Bangladeshi community since the oil boom of the 1970s, alongside Indians, Pakistanis, Filipinos and Sri Lankans, who altogether contribute in almost 70% of the economic activity in the area.Traditional Kuwaiti goods accounted for majority of Batha's imports during the early days of its emergence , however, products from various countries like the United Kingdom, Spain, China, Taiwan, Switzerland, Vietnam and Thailand soon began increasing the diversity of Batha's trading centers.Public transport services were introduced In the area in the 1960s. 1977, the Riyadh Municipality created the al-Batha Sub-Municipality, one of the 16 sub-municipalities of Riyadh, that also includes two of five neighborhoods that constitute the Batha area, namely ad-Dirah and Margab.