Al-Subaie Palace

Al-Subaie Palace is a historic palace located in Shaqra, a governorate in the Riyadh region. It was built in 1909 by Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Al-Subaie. The palace served as the residence of the Founding King Abdulaziz Bin Abdulrahman Al Saud during his travels from Riyadh to Hejaz, as well as the treasury and the headquarters for military preparations at the time of the Founding King. The palace consists of thirty-two rooms and houses a variety of historical artifacts.

Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Al-Subaie built the palace in 1909. It was later reconstructed by Sheikh Abdulrahman Bin Abdullah Al-Subaie in 1936, a project that took four years to complete. The palace underwent two restorations: the first in 1991 and the second ten years later. It was fully restored in 2000 under the supervision of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (now the Ministry of Tourism).

Al-Subaie Palace is located in the southwestern part of the old town of Shaqra, about 200 km from the capital, Riyadh. King Abdulaziz used it as his residence during his travels between Riyadh and the Hijaz. The palace also served as a command center in some of the unification battles, as Bait Al-Mal in Al-Washm and Al-ser Provinces, and as a meeting place for decision-makers and advisors.

Al-Subaie Palace was built in the Andalusian-Islamic architectural style and consists of two floors containing several rooms and reception halls. The upper parts of the exterior and interior walls feature balconies adorned with Arabic and Islamic decorations and inscriptions. The palace includes an open courtyard surrounded by corridors on both the ground and first floors, supported by sun-dried brick pillars.

The palace façades are designed with extended frames featuring protruding and inverted triangles to channel rainwater away from the walls. The edges of the wooden window and door frames are decorated with colorful hand-carved designs, including geometric patterns such as straight, intersecting, and circular lines, as well as botanical motifs like grape clusters.

The palace also contains stone columns made of flat cylindrical beads, considered key architectural elements. Its ceilings are constructed with acacia beams covered with palm fronds, layered with clay, and finished with a layer of plaster.