As a boy living in Jakarta, where his Dutch father worked as a civil engineer in the early 1970s, Eric Broug grew fascinated with Islamic culture. By the 1990s, after having begun studies in Middle Eastern politics at the University of Amsterdam, Broug turned his interest to Islamic geometric design and joined the master’s program at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies in Islamic art and archeology.

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In patterns and refractions, the old city of Fez, Morocco, comes to life through the geometric tile works known as zillij. In 2001, AramcoWorld commissioned photographer Peter Sanders to tell the story of a family who for five generations has added new dimensions to art and architecture.

In recent years in the United States, dates have been trending as a nutrient-dense, easily transportable source of energy. Nearly 90 percent of US-grown dates are from California’s Coachella Valley. Yet the date palm trees from which they are harvested each year aren’t native; they were imported from the Arab world in the 1800s. Over the years, they have become a part of Coachella’s agricultural industry—and sprouted Arab-linked pop culture.

From installations in the desert to abstract sculptures by the sea, the Arabian Gulf is flourishing as a multicultural hub for contemporary art. Part of a cultural revolution marked by the expansion of galleries and exhibitions, the surge of interest has helped artists from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates rise to the global scene. The growth of this art ecosystem is being hailed as a seminal moment in that cultural transformation.

Thanks to children who kicked up little pieces of red ceramics while playing on a hilltop in 1977, the town of Mértola, Portugal, has taken its place alongside much of the rest of the country as it rediscovers its Islamic past. Years of excavations have turned Mértola, which lies near the border with Spain, into a destination for both tourists and researchers, and officials have applied to make Mértola a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Since its beginnings 75 years ago, AramcoWorld’s editors have viewed architecture as an essential lens on history and a crucible for cultural connections. Early stories, in particular, added human context to a discipline that often focused on the form of buildings with little regard for the people who used them. In Part 4 of our series marking our 75th anniversary in 2024, we look at the ways these stories encapsulate architecture in the evolution of world history.