Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal declared open the sixth Souq Okaz cultural festival on Tuesday in Taif.
The festival is named after the old Souq Okaz, which was hosted every year, from four centuries BC to 746 AD. The modern festival was revived by Prince Khaled six years ago and is now considered one of the most important cultural activities in the region.
It is an annual poetic and political platform were Arabs gather to demonstrate their poetic and performance skills.
During the opening ceremony, Prince Khaled cut the ribbon at the new Souq Okaz ceremony tent, capable of holding 3,000 festival-goers. The Bin Ladin Group constructed the SR 40 million tent.
The governor and his guests enjoyed poetry from the winners of poetry competitions, calligraphy and photographic presentations, as well as dialogue between ancient Arabic and modern-day poets.
Souq Okaz declared open
