We took a drive south in the direction of Jeddah looking for the popular Red Sand Dunes, but simply couldn’t find them with the sketchy directions we had. Along the Makkah Highway at a big police checkpoint, however, we came across this semi-circular monument on either side of the road, complete with four large towers, and an enormous sculpture on the divider, depicting the origins and history of Saudi Arabia.

This huge tower is probably a bit anticlimactic after the highway divider sculpture below, but I do love these things, and perhaps it explains what this place is. The whole complex appears on Google Maps, but with absolutely no name, not even in Arabic. All it says is “Police checkpoint.”


Monument to Saudi history, posted earlier: