The museum also houses a mushaf copy dating back to 1864 donated by Crown Prince Naif, deputy premier and interior minister.
The museum operating under the supervision of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) was built in 2003 in the ancient architectural style of the Baha region.
It also has engraving and pictures belonging to the Thamud society, who lived in the south during the first millennium BC. Some of the rock pictures of the Thamud people portray camels and humans.
Most of the ancient inscriptions in the museum were discovered in the Baha region especially pictures of ancient villages.
The museum also showcases stone tools as old as 10,000 years that were used for cutting, breaking, hunting and grinding. Some archaeological pieces are 3500 BC old while of artifacts of the Mousterian culture is 1400 BC.
The museum is also proud of a collection of coins of pre-Islamic times and the early Islamic and Byzantine periods.
Some of the inscriptions contain prayers and verses of the Holy Qur’an written in the old Kufi calligraphic style of ninth century and were found on gravestones.
In the folk culture section ancient clothes, and jewelries of silver are exhibited. It also showcases ancient agricultural implements such as millstone, plow, carpentry tools, and cooking devices including utensils made of clay and copper and also palm leaf tools.
The special stones found in some parts of the province are also preserved in the museum. Marble, glass and soapstone dating back to ninth century were excavated from the Abla in eastern Baha. A section of museum is set apart for models of unique rock formations, shifting rocks, mica stones, basalt, flint, copper and quartz apart from volcanic stones found in the province.
The museum also supplies a map showing the locations of 18 museums in the Kingdom and also a library containing the articles and photos describing the archaeological discoveries in the Kingdom.
The SCTA plans to shift the museum to a more spacious building at the cost of SR30 million. The visiting time is 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. except on weekends.
