๐ธ๐ฆ Al-Hofuf (Arabic: ูฑูููููููู al-Hufลซf, also spelled Hofuf or Hufuf, also known as "Al-Hasa", "Al-Ahsa" or "Al-Hassa") is the major urban city in the Al-Ahsa Oasis in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. It is also known for being one of the largest date producers in the world, and for its old souks and palaces.
Overview The city proper is part of a larger populated oasis area of towns and villages. It is located inland, south-west of Abqaiq and the DhahranโDammamโAl-Khobar metropolitan area on the road south to Haradh. It is the closest city to the famous Ghawar oil field, one of the world's largest conventional (land-based) fields. Hofuf is one of the major cultural centres in Saudi Arabia. A lot of well-known families live there. The faculties of agriculture, veterinary medicine and animal resources for King Faisal University are located in the city (the others being in Dammam). The Hofuf campus also has facilities where Saudi women can study medicine, dentistry and home economics.
Legend places Hofuf as the burial place of Laila and Majnoon, the star-crossed pair of the most popular love story in the Arab and Muslim world. The Queen of Sheba is also fabled to have visited this city from her kingdom in Yemen. German explorer, Hermann Burchardt, photographed the city in 1904.
Economy Historically, Hofuf made textiles out of wool, silk, and cotton. The town was also renowned for its fruit of the date palm, the Arabs considering the khalasi variety of dates, locally grown in Hofuf, and also the fardh variety of Oman, among the best. As of 1920, the city was known for making coffee pots from silver and brass.
Culture The International Random Film Festival was going to be hosted in Hofuf in January 2015, but it was replaced by Helsinki, Finland in May 2017.
Transport: Air The city is served by King Fahd International Airport which is 160ย km away in Dammam, despite the fact that the city has two airports of its own.
The local airport, Al-Ahsa International Airport, is being used for domestic and limited international flights to Dubai. While the other is an old airstrip which is now abandoned.
Transport: Rail The city has a railway station connecting the city with the capital Riyadh to the west and Dammam to the north. All railways in Saudi Arabia are organized by the Saudi Railways Organization.
Al-Ahsa has a population of over 858,395 people. Al-Ahsa also forms the centre of the wider Al-Ahsa Governorate which has a population of over 1,063,112 people. For the location of Al-Ahsa see: Hofuf.
To set up a UBI Lab for Al-Ahsa see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork
Al-Ahsa is a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network for Craft and Folk Art see: https://en.unesco.org/creative-cities
UNESCO Creative Cities for Craft and Folk Art include: ๐ธ๐ฆ Al-Ahsa ๐ต๐พ Areguรก ๐ช๐ฌ Aswan ๐ต๐ช Ayacucho ๐ต๐ญ Baguio ๐ฆ๐ซ Bamiyan ๐ฆ๐ซ Bamyan ๐ฎ๐ท Bandar Abbas ๐ต๐น Barcelos ๐ฎ๐น Biella ๐บ๐ฟ Bukhara ๐ช๐ฌ Cairo ๐ต๐น Caldas da Rainha ๐ฎ๐น Carrara ๐ต๐น Castelo Branco ๐น๐ญ Chiang Mai ๐ช๐จ Chordeleg ๐ช๐จ Durรกn ๐ฎ๐น Fabriano ๐ง๐ฌ Gabrovo ๐ป๐ณ Hoi An ๐ฟ๐ฆ Howick ๐ฐ๐ท Icheon ๐ฎ๐ท Isfahan ๐ญ๐น Jacmel ๐ฎ๐ณ Jaipur ๐ฐ๐ท Jinju ๐ง๐ท Joรฃo Pessoa ๐ฏ๐ต Kanazawa ๐ท๐บ Kargopol ๐น๐ท Kรผtahya ๐ซ๐ท Limoges ๐จ๐ฉ Lubumbashi ๐ฏ๐ด Madaba ๐ฉ๐ด Monte Cristi ๐ง๐ธ Nassau ๐ง๐ซ Ouagadougou ๐บ๐ธ Paducah ๐ฎ๐ฉ Pekalongan ๐ง๐ฏ Porto-Novo ๐ฒ๐ฝ San Cristรณbal de las Casas ๐บ๐ธ Santa Fe ๐ฆ๐ฟ Shaki ๐ฆ๐ช Sharjah ๐ฆ๐ฟ Sheki ๐น๐ฌ Sokodรฉ ๐น๐ญ Sukhothai ๐น๐ญ Sukhothai Thani ๐ฎ๐ฉ Surakarta ๐ฒ๐ฆ Tรฉtouan ๐จ๐บ Trinidad ๐น๐ณ Tunis ๐ฒ๐ณ Ulaanbaatar ๐ช๐ช Viljandi
๐จ๐ณ Chengxiang 25.419
๐ฆ๐ช Sharjah city 25.35
๐ต๐ฐ Gwadar District 25.333
Locations Near: Al-Ahsa 49.5833,25.3833
๐ธ๐ฆ Al Hufuf 49.583,25.383 d: 0
๐ธ๐ฆ Hofuf 49.583,25.383 d: 0
๐ธ๐ฆ Abqaiq 49.65,25.933 d: 61.5
๐ธ๐ฆ Dhahran 50.15,26.267 d: 113.4
๐ธ๐ฆ Khobar 50.208,26.285 d: 118.2
๐ง๐ญ Madinat Hamad 50.5,26.1 d: 121.6
๐ง๐ญ Hamad Town 50.5,26.1 d: 121.6
๐ธ๐ฆ Dammam 50.1,26.433 d: 127.7
Antipodal to: Al-Ahsa -130.417,-25.383
๐ต๐ซ Papeete -149.566,-17.537 d: 17853.1
๐ฆ๐ธ Pago Pago -170.701,-14.279 d: 15643.1
๐ผ๐ธ Apia -171.76,-13.833 d: 15518.6
๐น๐ด Nuku'alofa -175.216,-21.136 d: 15434.9
๐บ๐ธ Hilo -155.089,19.725 d: 14334.4
๐ฒ๐ฝ Manzanillo -104.3,19.05 d: 14324.1
๐ฒ๐ฝ Lรกzaro Cรกrdenas -102.183,17.95 d: 14309.8
๐ฒ๐ฝ Zihuatanejo -101.55,17.633 d: 14302
๐ฒ๐ฝ Zihuatanejo de Azueta -101.55,17.633 d: 14302