Museums in for a major revamp
National Museum soon; Maritime Museum planned in Sur — By Kabeer Yousuf — MUSCAT — Museums are where history lies in silence and they are the beacons of information for the coming generations by ‘connecting through collections’. Underlining the statement, the Ministry of Heritage and Culture (MoHC) is in a major revamping mode for some of the museums across the country which will take place in the coming years. Additionally, a state-of-the-art Maritime History Museum is currently being planned in Sur while the highly expected National Museum in Muscat is slated to open at the end of this year or early next year. The Natural History Museum in Muscat will undergo major revamp, according to the Ministry sources.
“We are renovating some of the museums in the country with the idea of offering better information and knowledge about the Sultanate of Oman and some specialised aspects of the country,” Rayya al Kindi, Director, Museum department, MoHC told the Observer. Accordingly, the Oman’s Natural History Museum will be replaced with a new one in a new location with new themes and new story- lines. The construction of the desired one will take at least 4 years before it can be opened to public, according to Rayya. “Also, we have the Maritime History Museum in Sur which is in the planning stage at the moment. We are in the first phase and it aims at showcasing the maritime history of the country and of Sur, which was the centre of bilateral trade with other countries in the past, in particular to the world”.
Speaking on the sidelines of the International Museum Day commemorated on May 18 under the auspices of Hasan Mohammed Ali al Lawati, Director-General of Archaeology and Museums at the Ministry of Tourism, she said the workshop aims at redefining the existing museum concepts with new storylines. “With the workshop, we want to highlight the importance of building museums in the country and the theme of this workshop is ‘The Collection make Connection’ where we will highlight the need to give proper storylines”. Mosa has also presented a paper at the workshop. As part of the renovation campaign, the Omani-French Museum in Muscat and Math’ha Museum in the Musandam will also see various changes.
“The Omani-French Museum in Muscat will also see lots of change as part of the renovation campaign and our next project is at the Math’ha Museum in the Musandam region. The Ministry has allocated a fund to carry out the renovation of these museums”. The National Museum, a highly anticipated house of history in the country will soon be dedicated to the nation, early by this year-end or next year, according to Moza al Wardi, Chief curator, National Museum. “The National Museum will be open this year-end or early next year. We are in the process of finalising the necessary arrangements needed for a museum of this nature”, she said. Her paper on the same aims to link the people with museum aptly calling ‘collection making connection’, seeking how to better interpret the connections with the help of various collections.
“There will be 13 galleries at the National Museum describing various stories with the help of artifacts from and around the country. Our artifacts will try to explore Oman’s connections with other countries and cultures since times immemorial such as our relations with Mesopotamia and India and other countries in the ancient times will be interpreted with the help of a narrative, storylines called museography”. Civil Officer Jamal bin Saeed al Amri of Sultan’s Armed Forces Museum; Abdullah bin Salem al Dhuhli, Ministry of Tourism; and Ali bin Salem al Khatheeri, Frankincense Land Museum also presented their working papers on museums and the nation.
Monday 19th, May 2014 / 00:44 Written by
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