What is wrong with Siranna, a Saudi Arabian future hotel that deeply resembles Minas Tirith fortress city from The Lord of the Rings

John Tolkien's iconic novel The Lord of the Rings continues to inspire artists, creators, and architects around the world. Recently, a new tourist development for the Gulf of Aqaba was announced. The project deeply resembles the motifs of the popular film adaptation.

As part of the highly controversial NEOM megacity project, Saudi leaders have unveiled plans for Siranna, a new hexagonal-column hotel with 65 rooms and 35 private residences. The details were reported by the Mirror.

Fans of the Lord of the Rings world quickly noticed the similarity of the building to Minas Tirith - a white walled fortress rising above the dusty plains and built into the mountain.

"Siranna is an example of NEOM’s uncompromising efforts to create spaces in nature that support sustainable future living and nurture creativity, while offering the ultimate luxury hospitality experience," NEOM said in a statement on its website.

In addition to the original design, the hotel will have a beach club, a wellness center and a spa.

Designed by Woods Bagot, the surrounding landscape of Siranna includes cliffs and nature trails.

Although the exact cost of the extremely ambitious hotel has not been made public, the NEOM project is estimated to come in at between $1 trillion and $1.5 trillion. That's more than Saudi Arabia's massive public investment fund, which stood at $925 billion as of July of this year.

"As NEOM enters a new phase of delivery, this new leadership will ensure operational continuity, agility and efficiency to match the overall vision and objectives of the project," Neom said in a statement.

In total, the NEOM project is to include 10 regions, including an octagon-shaped port city called Oxagon, a mirror megacity called The Line, and an island resort called Sindalah.

In recent months, many have been criticizing the project over its human rights. ALQST reported that 21,000 workers have died since the broader Vision 2030 project began in Saudi Arabia in 2016.

In October, an ITV documentary titled Kingdom Uncovered: Inside Saudi Arabia also claimed that around 100,000 people have gone missing since the launch of Vision 2030 plans. According to Reuters, project managers worked under extremely tight deadlines, but still had to face some delays.

Earlier this year, experts from the UN Human Rights Council expressed "alarm" about the execution of workers. Saudi Arabia denied these allegations, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the ruler of the Kingdom, promised to spend trillions to improve the country's international image.

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