Wednesday 26 / June / 2024
Al Hamra: ‘Museum of Misfat Al Abriyeen’, the house for heritage collections in the Wilayat of Al Hamra in Al-Dakhiliyah Governorate was inaugurated in March 2018.
It is considered a comprehensive museum that tells in detail the life of Omani villagers in the mountains with small holdings, customs and traditions.
Also the ‘Museum of Misfat Al Abriyeen’ is considered as a heritage tourism project aimed at preserving the culture of the past and attracting tourists from inside and outside the Sultanate of Oman who want to know about the Omani life across the ages.
With the government support for heritage tourism projects, the Ministry of Heritage and tourism plans to carry out some restoration works of this museum for displaying its contents.
The work is expected to start soon with a hope to be completed at the beginning of the next tourism season in October 2023.
Abdullah Zahir Al Abri, the owner of ‘Museum of Misfat Al Abriyeen’ said: “The museum is one of the distinctive and growing tourism activities in this village which was listed with the International Tourism Organisation in 2021 as one of the best international tourism villages.
He added that the museum allows tourists to know and discover the life of Omani villagers in detail, and get detailed explanations from the villagers. Foreign tourists can get an experience of wearing the traditional Omani dress as well.” He pointed out that the project has gained admiration and appreciation of the visitors in view of the efforts made to showcase the traditional culture.
He stated that this museum is unique as it is completely under Omani management and established in an ancient heritage house in the middle of the ancient village of ‘Museum of Misfat Al Abriyeen’.
The village was constructed 600 years ago and the museum includes many rooms. Each one tells a different aspect of Omani village life. There is a living room with traditional Omani clothes, traditional weapons, including Omani swords and other weapons used for hunting or for protection. It also contains bows and arrows, guns, spinning and textile tools, leathers, palm fronds products, ancient coins and some ancient books and documentations.
The room of agricultural tools includes farm equipment used by the mountain villagers such as the manual ploughs, axes, ropes, digging tools, stone crushing, soil transport, sarooj manufacturing, drying of agricultural crops and dates, methods for extracting date molasses and other products.
Tools used in the high mountains for searching local honey or bee-keeping as well as for harvesting mountain fruits are also on display.
Al Abri pointed out that the Omani kitchen displays traditional utensils, pots, copper pots, leather, tools for preserving oils and honey, stone mills for grinding grains.
Another room contains radios, watches of different types, besides there are photos to link the past with the present and to make the current generation acquainted with the developments and changes witnessed by arrows and.
He confirmed that this work culminated in the issuance of the book Misfat Al Abriyeen (Man, Venue and Time) by the owner of the museum in October 2022 to be a significant continuation in the process of documenting and narrating the history of this ancient Omani village.
