A concert performance by Andrea Bocelli, the very famous Italian tenor opera singer, was the primary reason for our visit to AlUla, Saudi Arabia, in January 2024. A friend of ours is a huge fan, and invited us along. Now...I don't know much about Italian opera, but have no doubt - Andrea Bocelli is amazing! The concert was excellent, and truly a once in a lifetime experience for us all.
The venue added to this experience in no small way. Bocelli performed at the Maraya Concert Hall in the desert of AlUla. You've probably seen photos of it. It is the world's largest mirror-clad building, and it's mirrored surface fully reflects the tall sandstone cliffs and rock formations that surround it.
Maraya – whose name means “mirror” or “reflecting” in Arabic - contains a 500-seat concert hall, which looks out towards the sandstone formations, and serves as a cultural center and event space. In addition to Bocelli, it has hosted performances by many other well-known artists, such as Alicia Keys, Enrique Iglesias and John Legend, just to name a few.
Italian architect Florian Boje designed the building in 2019. The design philosophy was simple, ‘Nothing visible should be built here, so if we really have to, it should be a silent mirror cube’...This coming after the architect visited the site and was profoundly touched by its natural and cultural landscape.
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