Al Subaie Palace

General information

Al Subaie Palace is located in Shaqra Governorate, about 200 km from Riyadh. It was built in 1358 AH by Sheikh Abdul Rahman bin Abdullah Al-Subaie, who was the agent of Bait Al-Mal, and it took four years of construction to complete. This palace is one of the most prominent historical monuments in the heart of historic Shaqra. It served as a resting place for His Majesty King Abdulaziz - may God bless his soul - when passing through Shaqra. The building consists of two floors featuring plenty of rooms and councils, besides an open courtyard surrounded by mud-brick passageways on the ground and first floors. In addition to being architecturally distinguished by Arabic and Islamic decorations and inscriptions, all the palace’s façades are adorned with an extended frame of protruding, inverted triangles to push the rainwater away from the walls. It also has balconies visible from the upper parts of its internal and external façades. These wooden balconies and doors are splendidly decorated with hand-carved geometric and plant designs, including circles, straight and intersecting lines, quadrilateral shapes, and grape clusters. The palace also contains stone columns among its essential architectural elements, made up of flat cylindrical beads. The roofs consist of tamarisk beams topped by palm leaves and fronds, followed by a layer of clay and a coat of plaster. Al Subaie Palace was restored under the supervision of the Saudi Commission of Tourism and National Heritage.