Thulaim Palace () or Thulaim Guesthouse (), is a double-storey multipurpose historic building in the easternmost extreme of al-Futah,

Riyadh Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, located next to the Batʼha Commercial Center. It once served as one of the

quarantine A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals, and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have bee ...

facilities for treating patients during the

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

epidemic of the 1940s. Built between 1936 and 1939 by King Abdulaziz ibn Saud on a farm with the same name situated on the edge of Wadi al-Batha in the northeastern fringes of the old city walls, it overlooks the eponymous neighborhood of

Thulaim Thulaim () is a commercial and residential neighborhood in downtown Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, located south of al-Amal and north of Margab in the sub-municipality of al-Malaz,

which itself got named after the compound.

Overview and background

In 1936, King Abdulaziz purchased a farm called Thulaim, that was located on the northeastern outskirts of the walled town of

to build a public guesthouse

endowed A financial endowment is a legal structure for managing, and in many cases indefinitely perpetuating, a pool of financial, real estate, or other investments for a specific purpose according to the will of its founders and donors. Endowments are ...

for his father, Abdul Rahman bin Faisal Al Saud. Initially, the building intended to function as a stopover for travelers coming to

to meet Abdulaziz and tribal

nomads Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, Nomadic pastoralism, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and Merchant, trader nomads. In the twentieth century, ...

who watered their livestock through a large seven column basin situated in close proximity to it, known as Madi, which is today the site for the Midi Mosque in the

National Museum Park The National Museum Park () is an umbrella term used for the agglomeration of 5 out of 8 municipal parks and gardens in the al-Murabba neighborhood of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, namely al-Haras, al-Soor, al-Wadi, al-Jisr and al-Madi that adjoin the M ...

. However, as the

epidemic gripped Arabia in the early 1940s, the building was quickly transformed into a quarantine center and underwent expansion to primarily serve infected patients.

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in Riyadh Buildings and structures completed in 1939 1939 establishments in Saudi Arabia