Culture & Education | Sunday 19 April, 2015 7:48 am |

More than 77,000 visitors attended the exhibition and conference on the life of the late King Fahd.
The event, which concluded on Saturday, was opened by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman at the Riyadh International Exhibition and Conference Center.
The show, originally scheduled to run for two weeks, was extended for a further four days due to public demand.

The exhibition, organized by the children and grandchildren of King Fahd, was held in collaboration with the King Abdul Aziz Foundation (Darah) under the theme: “Fahd — the Spirit of Leadership.”
Madinah Gov. Prince Faisal bin Salman, who visited the exhibition, said the exhibition’s next venue will be in his region to remind people in that part of the Kingdom of the many services rendered by the late king.
Outlining the many services rendered by King Fahd, Prince Faisal recalled that the expansion of the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah was initiated during his reign. Thus, he added that it was nothing but right to have the next venue in Madinah in appreciation of the king’s services.
An official spokesman for the exhibition told Arab News that the organizers had decided to house the exhibition permanently in Riyadh in order to enable people to visit it.
Besides senior government officials, ministers and members of the royal family, a number of distinguished visitors, including members of the Shoura Council, well-known athletes, writers, intellectuals, artists, sculptors and students of schools and universities and specialized colleges and students with special needs, attended the show.
An encyclopedia on the life of King Fahd, prepared by the King Abdul Aziz Foundation (Darah) in 10 volumes, was presented during the opening ceremony. In addition to the encyclopedia, four new books were also released at the event.

Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd said in his opening speech that it took nearly two years to prepare for this exhibition which focused on the youth of the Kingdom.
“King Fahd was a leader who served all sections of the community. Being the minister of education, the late king did his best to improve the educational level of the population by providing better facilities, services and scholarships,” said Prince Abdul Aziz.

During the seminars, 29 speakers and historical researchers presented 40 papers and studies over seven sessions. Besides activities for families, youth and children, there were 55 training workshops on the qualities of leadership for the youth and the nurturing of leadership in the child, under the supervision of 25 trainers with an attendance of 2,500.
The exhibition also included an interactive display which presented the life of King Fahd from his birth until his death, his personal belongings, the decorations and badges he was honored with, official documents, several manuscripts, documentaries and 1,000 images, some of them seen for the first time.