Hejaz Railway Station Museum, Al Ula
For many Muslims across the globe, the Pilgrimage to Makkah and Madinah has been long and arduous, and even today it is not necessarily straightforward. Before the arrival of the railway, airports, or built roads, the journey by camel caravan from Damascus to Madinah took more than 40 long, tough, and oftentimes, dangerous, days.
In 1900, the Ottoman ruler Sultan Abdulhameed II decreed the building of a railway. It was to be totally funded by donations from the Muslim World, and foreigners were not to interfere in its supply or management.
The main objective of the Hejaz Railway’s construction was to serve the two Holy Mosques and provide a modern means to transport Pilgrims who came from Asia, Europe and the Levant to the Holy Land. The Sultan also intended it to serve as a means of strengthening ties between the dispersed Muslim world.
On August 28th, 1908, the arrival of the first train from Damascus in Madinah, was greeted by thousands. The line was originally to continue on to Makkah, but a tribal rebellion sparked by the potential loss of income from transporting pilgrims on camel, which encouraged the Sultan to end the line at Madinah.
World War 1 was the beginning of the end of the network. Fighting, changes in leadership and ownership, colonial interference, a lack of maintenance, and an expensive infrastructure, all combined to seal its fate.
A visit to the Hejaz Railway Station Museum in Mada’in Salih Al Ula conjures up powerful memories of past ambitions, and of movies with booming soundtracks provided by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Yes, Lawrence’s story is intertwined with the Railway as well.
There are 16 buildings spread across the site, including administrative, accommodation, maintenance, and storage buildings. There is also a police station and rest houses for pilgrims.
The Hejaz Railway was entered onto UNESCO’s Tentative List in 2015 by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Hopefully it will achieve full listing in future. A big project to be sure.
There are two museums in KSA with stories aligned to the Hejaz Railway. The other is in Madinah, although the displays in that museum are of local heritage, with little focus on the Hejaz Railway story, even though it too is located in an old railway terminal.
For further information on visiting the Museum, check out the details in the Al Ula Official VIsitor Guide