40 years ago, Jeddah’s mayor transformed his city through an urban development scheme that placed contemporary art at its core. This was public art on a grand scale, designed ‘to bring delight to the citizen, to give a sense of wonder and stir a sense of history’. Today, Jeddah has one of the largest collections of open air art in the world. Sculptures include works by a variety of artists, ranging from not very well known artists to international stars such as Jean/Hans Arp, César Baldaccini, Alexander Calder, Henry Moore, Joan Miró and Victor Vasarely. They often depict elements of traditional Saudi culture