Fenaa Alawwal

Fenaa Alawwal is a cultural centre run by the Saudi Ministry of Culture in the Diplomatic Quarter of Riyadh. It opened in December 2022 as the ministry's first cultural centre and hosts exhibitions, workshops, talks and other public gatherings.

The centre occupies a former branch of Alawwal Bank, earlier the Saudi Hollandi Bank and the Kingdom's oldest commercial bank. Omrania designed the building in 1988: a square canopy carried on cylindrical columns and faced with geometric relief panels that draw on Najdi building traditions.

Inside are an arts library and a café, and a sculpture courtyard and garden hold a permanent group of outdoor works, most of them made for the site. The opening exhibition, The Memory Deposit, curated by Tala Al Ghamdi, looked at the history of Saudi money through the work of six artists.