Museum opening marks Sultan’s homecoming

RIYADH: Prince Sultan ibn Salman, chief of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), has issued orders for opening the Kingdom’s apex national museum for visitors on Friday, on the occasion of the return of Crown Prince Sultan, deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation.

“The museum will open its doors to visitors to show relics and documentary films highlighting the history of the Kingdom, which will also mark the homecoming of the crown prince,” said Ali Al-Ghaban, SCTA’s vice president.

Al-Ghaban said the museum, which would receive guests from 4.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. today, would showcase artifacts of national heritage and art. The museum, he said, has been constructed in the heart of Riyadh’s King Abdulaziz Historical Center (KAHC). The occasion also marked the launch of the website of the First International Conference on Urban and Architectural Heritage in Islamic countries (FCUAHIC) by the SCTA.

This maiden conference on heritage will be organized under the patronage of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah early next year.

The conference aims to utilize the economic role of urban heritage in Islamic countries, and the integration of efforts by the relevant authorities so that heritage sites in the Islamic countries can be preserved. This will also help to highlight the past glorious culture, while giving social benefits, economic returns and increasing job opportunities.

The SCTA is organizing the conference in collaboration with several private and public sector organizations including ministries of municipal & rural affairs, finance, information, King Saud University, Al-Turath Foundation, Organization of Islamic Conference, UN, WTO, and the Arab Urban Development Institute.

Speaking about the conference, Faisal Al-Mubarak, the conference’s executive director, said that the SCTA had already started a restoration and rehabilitation program for a number of historic and heritage sites in several Saudi cities.

The plan is to restore the old Islamic sites and renovate historic buildings that were built during the era of late King Abdulaziz, thus transforming them into cultural centers to highlight the history of Saudi state.

A statement released by the SCTA said Saudi Arabia was replete with archaeological sites dating back thousands of years. “There are nearly 100,000 historical sites in the Kingdom and we have already identified and registered more than 3,700 main sites,” said the statement. Moreover, the Kingdom has also retrieved 1,600 rare Islamic coins that were being smuggled out from Shuaiba Port recently.

The Kingdom’s plan mainly focuses on efforts to convert these sites and palaces into museums to feature the three stages of the unification of the Saudi state. 

The museums in every city or province will shed light on the history and heritage of the respective regions, cities and provinces. Since SCTA was granted permission by the Council of Ministers to oversee the museums and antiquities sector, this apex tourism body of the Kingdom has implemented several plans to preserve and restore them.