Between Monday March 13 and Friday March 24, 2023, the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS) hosted the “FAISAL: A Life at the Heart of the 20th Century” exhibition at Ségur Hall of the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The exhibition commemorated the centenary of the historic visit of King Faisal to Europe in 1919.

The exhibition was inaugurated on Monday March 13 by HRH Prince Turki AlFaisal, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of KFCRIS, in the presence of HH Princess Haifa bint Abdulaziz Al Mogrin, the Permanent Delegate of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to UNESCO, and His Excellency Fahd bin Mayouf Al-Ruwaili, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the Republic of France. The event was attended by ministers, officials, diplomats, intellectuals, and experts in the fields of culture, arts, and media.

HRH Prince Turki AlFaisal delivered a welcoming speech in which he appreciated the deep historical, political, diplomatic, cultural, and economic relations between the two governments and between the Saudi and French peoples, considering the holding of the “FAISAL” exhibition in Paris as part of such strong, multifaceted relations.

HH Princess Haifa affirmed that holding the “FAISAL” exhibition at UNESCO comes within the framework of permanent cooperation between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and UNESCO, explaining that it provides the greatest potential for the exhibition’s international presence and spreading its message at the global level. She indicated that the Kingdom is at the forefront of the countries supporting UNESCO and its efforts to establish peace since its foundation in 1946, noting that the Kingdom became a member of the Executive Board of UNESCO in 2019.

The exhibition includes seven chapters. The first chapter is “Najd,” where King Faisal’s life began, and from which he embarked on his journey to Europe. The second, “India,” tells the story of King Faisal’s visit to India, which was his first contact with the world. The third, “London,” represents the first European stop of King Faisal’s journey in 1919. The fourth, “Britain and Ireland,” shows the details of King Faisal’s visit to the rest of Britain and Ireland. The fifth, “The Battlefields,” highlights the visit of King Faisal to the previous battlefields of the First World War. The sixth, “Paris,” talks about King Faisal's visit to Paris as one of the stops of his European journey. The seventh, “Legacy,” reviews the positive results of King Faisal’s historic journey to Europe.

The exhibition also included a collection of King Faisal's most important personal belongings; a number of manuscripts, telegrams, letters, paintings, maps, and photographs documenting the history of King Faisal's journey to Europe a century ago; and a collection of press articles and pictures of press coverage of the journey.