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2025 Calendar - Textiles from the Islamic World
Discover Stories
AramcoWorld inspires global connections that broaden the appreciation of diverse cultures. We believe in celebrating our shared experiences through engaging and educational stories and content.
Translating the Qur’an for the Deaf
Arts & Culture
Until a few years ago, the UK’s deaf community was hard-pressed to access the Qur’an. A project to translate the holy book from Arabic directly into British Sign Language is underway—but it comes with challenges to ensure accuracy and comprehensibility.
The Heart-Moving Sound of Zanzibar
Arts & Culture
Like Zanzibar itself, the ensemble style of music known as taarab brings together a blend of African, Arabic, Indian and European elements. Yet it stands on its own as a distinctive art form—for over a century, it has served as the island’s signature sound.
Silk Roads Exhibition Invites Viewers on Journeys of People, Objects and Ideas
Arts & Culture
An evocative soundscape envelops visitors as they enter the Silk Roads exhibition at the British Museum in London. Huge screens along one wall project images of landscapes and oceans, while visitors are invited to experience the scents of balsam, musk and incense contained in boxes around the exhibition.
Polish Explorer's Manuscript on Arabia Helps Preserve Cultural Heritage
Arts & Culture
Nearly 200 years after his death, Polish adventurer and poet Waclaw Rzewuski’s manuscript documenting his experience in the Middle East has become important to advancing understanding of 19th-century Bedouin life and customs.
At Home in the World: A Conversation with Maryam Hassan
Arts & Culture
Growing up in London, at age 13, Maryam Hassan decided she’d move to Chicago one day. The city had glittered in her imagination because she was certain that it bore no resemblance to her hometown.
Revival Looms
Arts & Culture
In Georgia Borchalo rugs are making a tentative comeback amid growing recognition of the uniqueness of ethnic Azerbaijani weaving. There’s hope that this tradition can be saved.
Flavors: Batata Chab (Potato Chops)
Food
The Bengalis are famous for their “chops,” or potato croquets eaten as snacks with tea.
First Look - A blistering triumph for the back-street boys
Arts & Culture
As a Saudi photographer with a passion for cultural, human and heritage themes around the world, I strive to make my images windows to the past as well as reflections of the present. When I came across this guesthouse on a visit to Aswan, Egypt, I was taken back to 3000 BCE to ancient Nubia.
Sara Domingos Investigates the Threads of Portugal’s Multilayered Heritage
Arts & Culture
In a cavernous studio beneath the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene, just a 15-minute walk from Lisbon’s Moorish Quarter, a cross-cultural interplay between the Portuguese city’s old Islamic and modern-day traditions manifests under the steady hands of Sara Domingos.
Featured Videos
Arian Shehu's Vocal Appeal To Safeguard Albania’s Iso-Polyphony
- Arts & Culture
For centuries iso-polyphony, a style of folk singing, has chronicled Albanian life. The songs are part of a rich tradition, and Arian Shehu lives and breathes it. The music is vital to Albanian weddings, funerals, harvests, festivals and other social events. Indeed, a Ministry of Culture official dubs it “the autobiography of a nation,” a means for the preservation and transmission of different stories. Recently, crowds gathered for the National Folklore Festival in the “stone city” of Gjirokastër, demonstrating that interest in iso-polyphony remains high. The challenge is getting younger generations to engage. But some are taking up the call.
Learn more and discover the story "A Vocal Appeal to Safeguard Albania's Iso-Polyphony" here.
New Generations Discover Rajasthan’s Folk Music
Reaching out to new generations and global audiences, musicians in India’s northwest state of Rajasthan draw on centuries of traditions that, to an untrained ear, may sound like Indian classical music. But what sets them apart are the regional stories they tell and the tone and power of the singers.
Andrew Nemr Taps Into Story
- Arts & Culture
Telling stories about life journeys may not be what most people think tap dancers do, but that is where Andrew Nemr taps his way into a deeper root of the art.
Read the full story here.How To Use an Astrolabe
- History
- Science & Nature
How do you use an astrolabe? Writer Lee Lawrence takes you on an adventure as she takes on the greatest computer of its day–the astrolabe. The device helped astronomers, surveyors and navigators calculate height, tell time and aid in direction. But using them took a lot more than typing and swiping.
Read the story "Astrolabe Tech Made...Not So Easy" here.
Video by David H. Wells
Flavors
Flavors: Spicy Mashed Tomatoes (Tomato Bhorta)
- Food
- Recipes
Bhorta or bharta is a generic term used in Bengal to describe anything that has been ground, pounded or chopped into very small pieces. It is a side dish almost like a relish, which is commonly eaten with rice and lentils.
Learn more