Tahjir, Tourist Attraction in Halbah, Saudi Arabia

Tahjir, Cars mounted on rocks rock.

Tahjir, Cars mounted on rocks rock.

The art of ‘tahjir’ or raising a car on a platform of stones is a major tourist attraction in Halbah, a town near the Asir Provincial Park.
Tahjir involves creatively mounting cars of various sizes on rock platforms in a particular style. In some cases tires are replaced with stones.

“The tahjir is practiced only in the summer. It is an impressive art form that combines skill with the breath-taking scenic beauty of the region,” Abdullah Al-Harbi, a Saudi visitor from Qassim told the Saudi Press Agency.

Muhammad Al-Taihani, a young man from a neighboring province comes to practice his art in Halbah every year. “The number of young people becoming involved is increasing every year,” he said.
It can take between four to seven hours to mount a car on a platform. For larger vehicles, it can take up to 10 hours.

Practitioners of this rare art form would like tahjir to be included in the Abha Summer Festival. They would also like to see competitions for the most creative tahjir or the fastest individual tahjir or group tahjir to be established.

“I started participating in tahjir out of curiosity and now I am a passionate practitioner,” Mamdouh Al-Sayyed, a visitor from the western region
said.
Salman Al-Mutairi said the development of a picnic center allows the art to be displayed in it’s own space and away from the areas typically frequented by families.

Tahjir, Cars mounted on rocks rock.

Tahjir, Cars mounted on rocks rock.

Tahjir, Cars mounted on rocks rock.

Tahjir, Cars mounted on rocks rock.

Tahjir, Cars mounted on rocks rock.