We Love Oman: The National Museum is a treasure trove of cultural wealth

The National Museum of Oman located in the heart of old Muscat is a treasure house of cultural wealth that focuses on promoting heritage, culture and science, and contains artefacts that date back thousands of years.

According to their official website " The Museum is located in a purpose-designed building in the heart of Muscat. Looking very much like a palace in its own right, the building is in keeping with the overall feel of the district, with the Museum facing the Qasr al-Alam Palace at the opposite end of Muscat’s ceremonial boulevard. The total area of the building is 13,700 sq m, including 4,000 square metres for 14 permanent galleries, each covering a different aspect of Oman’s cultural heritage. A further 400sq m are allocated for temporary exhibitions.

"The Museum houses more than 7,000 objects and offers 33 digital immersive experiences, state-of-the-art conservation facilities, a UHD cinema, and discovery areas for children. It features an integrated infrastructure for special needs and is the first museum in the Middle East to adopt Arabic Braille script for the visually impaired. It also houses the region’s first open-plan museum storage concept, where visitors can learn about the various processes that artefacts go through before they are put on display."

The National Museum recently inaugurated a showcase of the original manuscript of a collection of proses in Marine sciences by the Omani navigator Ahmed bin Majid as-Sa’adi on loan from the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts in the Russian Federation. The showcase was in celebration of UNESCO’s inclusion of the Omani navigator Ahmed bin Majid as’ Saadi in the list of globally influential personalities.

The National Museum has also inaugurated an exhibition that includes Italian museum collections and Omani archaeological artefacts. The exhibition highlights the continuity of Omani-Italian relations through the ages, as embodied by trade caravans carrying precious frankincense and spices as popular consumer goods in the Western world.