Smithsonian Asian Art Museum Director Highlights Cultural Exchange With AlUla Royal Commission

Cooperation between the National Museum of Asian Art at the Smithsonian Institution and the Royal Commission for AlUla is moving forward through a new framework designed to deepen cultural exchange. The partnership aims to connect experts from Saudi Arabia and the United States while sharing northern Arabian Peninsula heritage globally.

Director Chase Robinson told the Saudi Press Agency that the museum’s relationship with Saudi Arabia is "long-standing," and said it was formally organised through a memorandum of understanding signed in May 2025 with the RCU. Robinson stressed that the agreement "is built on many years of relations with the Kingdom".

Robinson explained that the memorandum reflects a shared commitment to protecting cultural heritage and supporting cultural exchange between the two countries. He described the understanding as the start of a new stage of practical cooperation, with arts and heritage seen as key tools for dialogue between different regions and historical traditions.

As part of this cooperation, specialists from the museum and the RCU are developing an exhibition focused on the monumental statue recently uncovered at the archaeological site of Dadan. The project includes scientific analyses of the statue itself, conservation studies, and research on the wider archaeological setting and the site’s growth over time.

Researchers are also examining how Dadan relates to the nearby city of AlUla, with the eventual exhibition expected to open in 2029. Robinson noted that presenting AlUla’s heritage internationally supports Saudi Vision 2030 by widening knowledge of ancient civilizations from the northern Arabian Peninsula and highlighting their regional links.

The National Museum of Asian Art opened in 1923 as the first national art museum in the United States and the first in the country devoted to Asian art. Its holdings include Islamic art from Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa, and previous displays featured "Roads of Arabia: Archaeology and History of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" (2012–2013) and "The Art of the Quran" (2016).

With inputs from SPA