National Museum offers peek into history at Muscat airport

The National Museum on Wednesday inaugurated its corner in the departure hall of the Muscat International Airport as part of its mission to offer the world an opportunity to know and experience the rich cultural heritage of Oman.

The new corner that comes following a cooperation with the Oman Airports was inaugurated in the presence of Sheikh Ayman bin Ahmed al Hosani, CEO of Oman Airports; Jamal bin Hassan al Moosawi, secretary general of the National Museum, and employees of the National Museum and Oman Airports.

The corner aims to enrich the cultural experience of travellers exiting the country through the Muscat International Airport - an important gateway to the world.

“The corner transfers the distinctive cultural experience from the National Museum to the corridors of Muscat International Airport,” said Moosawi of the National Museum.

“Through it, travellers can learn about the civilisational, historical and cultural dimensions of Oman, encouraging them to visit the historical and cultural landmarks, which contributes to supporting the museum and the tourism sector.”

The Oman Airports CEO projected this corner as an addition to the revitalisation of cultural tourism in the sultanate. “Oman has a great history and multiple treasures, and it is important even for the transit passengers to know about these treasures,” said Sheikh Hosani, while explaining the reason for having this corner at the departure.

“There is no doubt that the promotion of cultural tourism has a great impact on the sector, and help boost the influx of tourists to Oman to learn about its cultural heritage.”

He informed that the Muscat International Airport is working round the clock to rapidly return to the pre pandemic levels.

“We hope, during the coming months, will touch the numbers that we achieved in 2019 indicating the return of tourism activity to Oman. We hope witness an increase of tourist inflow compared to 2019 by the end of this year.”

The National Museum corner is divided into several sections, most notably the Omani Khanjar (dagger) and the Culture of Scent, Oman and East Africa, the Diba Hoard, and Samad Period.

The corner includes 23 artefacts that will be displayed for a period of five years, subject to extension and renewal, dating back to different historical periods.

Among the exhibits are memorial pieces presented to the Sultans of Zanzibar, which reflect the cultural impact of Oman in East Africa, in addition to a selection of precious objects from the Early Iron Age (1,300-600BC) in the Diba Hoard section. These items were recently discovered at a collective grave site in Diba, on the eastern edge of the Musandam Peninsula.

The corner also displays two jars dating back to Samad period in Oman (from 300BC to 100200AD).