RIYADH: Some 1,500 employees at the Diriyah Gate Development Authority have put their signatures on mud bricks to be used to restore Al-Turaif, the original home of the Saudi royal family and the country’s first capital.

DGDA Group CEO Jerry Inzerillo told Arab News: “Three hundred years ago the birthplace of the Kingdom was Al-Turaif. We give all our love and praise to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman, to restore Al-Turaif, which was built by Saudis brick by brick, but no one knows their names.

“Now we are building the new Diriyah, transforming it, using the same material, same mud, same straw, same palm trees, but now we know everybody’s name.

“So the next 300 years of this will be built by all these people, and will remain very emotional and very special to them.

“It is important to get everybody’s signature and make them feel more attached to the heritage of this magnificent area.

“The reason we made everyone at DGDA pick a mud brick and sign it is because each person is responsible for building the future of the Kingdom.

“We have a wonderful king, we have a wonderful crown prince, and Vision 2030 guides us and everyone else in the Kingdom. Every person is a brick in the world of the new Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

Inzerillo added that the signatures will take their place in the history books of the future.

He said: “We have 1,500 employees, each of whom has signed a brick. Every person who comes to work with us in the future will sign their brick, and all those bricks will go into the records. Today is the inauguration of that record book.

“This is historic because it is a physical representation of the future of the Kingdom, along with celebrating its past.

“Diriyah is the birthplace of the Kingdom. It is a source of national identity and national pride.

“These bricks represent that identity and pride, and celebrate our rich past, culture and heritage, and give us optimism for our future. It is a very historic and very emotional moment for us.”