Saudi Arabia Awards $490M Contract for Museum of Contemporary Art at Historic Diriyah

The Diriyah Company awarded a USD 490 million contract to build the Saudi Arabia Museum of Contemporary Art (SAMoCA), a flagship cultural institution spanning 77,000 square meters at the historic Dir'iyah site northwest of Riyadh. Designed by UAE-headquartered British firm Godwin Austen Johnson, the project represents a major milestone in MBS's cultural transformation agenda under Vision 2030. The museum is intended to position Saudi Arabia as a global cultural hub, complementing significant investments in arts, entertainment, and heritage tourism. Dir'iyah — the birthplace of the First Saudi State and a UNESCO World Heritage Site — is being developed as a multi-billion dollar heritage tourism destination.