NATIONAL MUSEUM OF BAHRAIN

Inaugurated in 1988, the National Museum of Bahrain is a pioneer in the exhibition of works in the Gulf. Designed by the Danish firm of Krohn and Hartvig Rasmussen, its refined architecture responds to the calm of the sea that surrounds it on all sides. The complex includes two buildings for a total of 20,000 m². You will find permanent and temporary exhibition rooms, an art gallery, a conference space, a souvenir store and a café.

A set of contemporary statues welcomes the visitor. Once past the ticket office, natural light shafts accentuate the giant perspectives of the whole. At your feet, a satellite map of the kingdom is printed on the marble floor, ideal to get an idea of the country's geography in a few glances. The tour begins on the first floor, with the first exhibit being the magnificent limousine of the previous king, which gives an idea of the wealth of the royal family.

The burial hall. To begin the exhibition, the museum honors Bahrain's archaeological jewels: the burial mounds of Dilmun, the largest necropolis in the world, with its hundreds of thousands of burial chambers dating back to the first millennia BC. But the tombs exposed here do not only come from these tumuli, the most recent one dates from Tylos, when the archipelago had passed under Greek influence. Dismantled at the archaeological sites and then reassembled stone by stone in the museum, all the archaeological revelations present in the tombs are revealed at a glance. The Dilmun civilization believed in an afterlife, as evidenced by the objects found in the tombs. One particularity has long puzzled archaeologists: in each tomb, they have found a snake skeleton enclosed in a pot. These reptiles seem to be related to the legend of Gilgamesh, of which we will find other examples in the next room.

The hall of Dilmun. The strategic location of Bahrain, in the heart of the Arabian Gulf and its numerous sources of fresh water made it the center of trade between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley, then among the most important civilizations of the first millennia with our era. From the end of the third millennium, the archipelago became the political capital of this civilization of merchants and artisans. The exhibits trace the chronology of this civilization from the Neolithic (5000 BC) to its disappearance (^5th century BC). In the showcases are many valuable archaeological items, such as the seals used to identify goods or correspondence. Traces of these seals have been found in Mesopotamia and India, proving the commercial hegemony of this people of navigators, whose originals have been found in Bahrain. Sculptures and friezes recounting the legend of Gilgamesh are also on display, such as the one of the snake that entrusted the legendary king with "the flower of immortality".

The hall of Tylos and the pre-Islamic period. With the disappearance of the Persian Empires that had the suzerainty of the archipelago, Dilmun fell into oblivion. It is only with the conquests of Alexander the Great and the expansion of the Greek Empires of the East that Bahrain reappears in history, under the Hellenized name of Tylos. The country became again, especially under the influence of the Seleucid Empire in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, a major commercial center between the Near East and India. This rich civilization produced remarkable works of art and crafts, such as its glassware, pottery, alabaster chests, and fine jewelry. All of these archaeological pieces are on display here.

The section on Islamic arts recounts the importance of Islam in Bahrain from the early years in the 7th century A.D. to the 18th century, with the magnificent works of art found at the Al Khamis Mosque, the oldest in the Gulf, as the centerpiece.

The Hall of Manuscripts. This part of the museum is a tribute to Islamic calligraphy. As human representation is forbidden in Islam, because it takes away from God and looks like idols, Muslim artists have developed an extraordinarily rich and varied calligraphic art. The Qur'ans exhibited here are a testimony to this, with masterpieces dating from the 13th and 14th centuries. Some of the documents on display here come from the Al Khalifa archives and tell the story of how this family asserted its power during the 19th century.

The Halls of Tradition. The next two sections of the museum trace the daily life of Bahrainis before the discovery of oil in the 1930s. Sometimes bordering on kitsch, with its wax statues reproductions, but the whole gives a good overview of the everyday life before the upheaval of hydrocarbons: weddings, births, religious celebrations, so many paintings that recall a past that seems to have disappeared, but whose legacy is still alive. A simple life then, devoted to trade and pearl fishing. The pearls are grouped together in a showcase, and we discover that there are dozens of different pearls, more or less refined and rare, the most sought after of all being the Dana.