Khairieh ‘Amr, Jihad Kafafi and Raeda Khairieh ‘Amr, Jihad Kafafi and Raeda Abdallah Abdallah The Jordan Museum PO Box 831225, Amman 11183, Jordan e-mail: [email protected] The Jordan Museum: Exhibiting the Archaeology of Jordan

Development of a National Museum for Jordan Museum for Jordan was finally underway, with the Ideas for establishing a National Museum in Jor- aim of establishing a museum adhering to interna- dan have been developing since the 1960s. Archi- tional modern standards that would present the his- tectural plans commissioned by the Department tory and cultural heritage of Jordan to Jordanians of Antiquities for a National Museum at ‘Ammån and visitors alike. Citadel were ready as early as 1979 (Brawne and King Abdullah the Second Bin Al Hussein is- Associates 1979; see also Al-Azzawi et al. 1995: sued a royal decree on 16 May 2002 by which a 330-331), but concerns about locating the proposed National Museum, having financial and adminis- museum on such an archaeologically rich site pre- trative independence, was established in Jordan. vented their implementation. On 1 July 2003, His Majesty also accredited the In 1980, HRH Crown Prince al-Hassan Bin Ta- National Museum bylaw (no. 71 for the Year 2003, lal held the First Conference on the History and Ar- issued according to Item 31 of the Law of Antiqui- chaeology of Jordan at Oxford. Conference papers ties no. 21 for the Year 1988). recommended the establishment of a National Mu- On 12 January 2005 the governing Board of seum and, by 1989, a previously established com- Trustees, chaired by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al- mittee of concerned individuals, government offi- Abdullah, held its first meeting. On 2 October 2005 cials and university representatives had formed the Queen Rania laid the cornerstone of the Museum “Society of Jordanian Culture”, chaired by HRH building, designed by Jordanian architect Jafar Tu- Prince al-Hassan. This society worked on sev- kan, and the Board decided upon the name of “The eral topics that were eventually incorporated into Jordan Museum” for the new institution. the National Museum general concepts (Ibrahim 1991). General Concept, Mission and Objectives of the The main obstacle to the establishment of the Jordan Museum National Museum was lack of funding. Between The general concept of the exhibition plan for the 1994 and 1996, the Japan International Cooperation Museum is “A Story Telling of Jordan: Land and Agency (JICA) conducted the “Study on the Tour- People”, from the Palaeolithic to modern times. ism Development Plan in the Hashemite Kingdom This general concept has remained unchanged since of Jordan”, which recommended the implementa- the summer of 2003, when the National Museum tion of seven tourism development projects, includ- Technical Team started work on the upgrading of ing the National Museum. This was followed by the exhibition (see Barghouti et al. 2007). funding from the Japan Bank for International Co- The mission and objectives of the Museum can operation (JBIC) for “Special Assistance for Project be summarized in five main points: Formulation” and a detailed JICA study of the proj- 1. To be a cultural landmark and symbol of pride ects. In December 1999 these culminated with the for Jordan, reflecting its history and cultural signing of a Japanese loan agreement for financing heritage; the “Tourism Sector Development Project”. 2. To serve as a facility for creating awareness With the launching of the “Tourism Sector De- among Jordanians of the importance of their na- velopment Project”, work on achieving a National tional heritage;

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3. To serve as a tourist attraction in order to pro- TABLE 1. Floor areas for the different in the Jordan Mu- mote tourism and to provide visitors with an seum overview of Jordan, land and people; 4. To serve as a research and study base for aca- demics and scholars; and 5. To serve as an educational facility for school children from across the nation in order to estab- lish in their minds the continuous cultural links of successive civilizations. The educational role of the Jordan Museum is seen as one of its distinctive aspects, whereby pro- grams are planned and designed to foster an under- standing of the national heritage. Education is of course for all age groups, but children are perceived to be the main beneficiaries of these programs. Pro- grams and interactive workshops, aimed at creat- ing and broadening awareness and understanding of Jordan’s heritage and history, started well before education; and 5. visitor services (see TABLE 1). the opening of the museum in order to help foster a The first function, the exhibition, spans two sense of national identity. It is hoped that this will floors of the building (FIG. 2). Its design is dictated help in the national effort to preserve our cultural by all other functions, especially research and edu- heritage. cation. The Jordan Museum artefact collection is per- Building, Functions and Activities of the Jordan ceived as falling into two main categories, the Museum exhibited and reserve collections, with a special The Museum is currently under construction in emphasis on conservation and preservation. The downtown ‘Ammån, within the present City Plaza exhibited collection is categorised according to the at Rås al-‘Ayn (FIG. 1). It is perceived as a major material culture of the various historical periods, in component of a cultural centre connecting east and chronological order, and is presented in accordance west ‘Ammån. The structure has a total floor area with nine main themes that span and connect the of 9500m2, where five main interlinked functions periods. The reserve or storage collection is cat- will be carried out: 1. exhibition; 2. artefact collec- egorised by physical material in order to facilitate tion and conservation; 3. research and archiving; 4. its preservation (FIG. 3).

1. Location of the Jordan Museum.

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2. Jordan Museum exhibition layout.

3. Jordan Museum collection management.

The Exhibition into three main galleries: 1. The Archaeology and The exhibition in the Jordan Museum is divided History Gallery; 2. The Traditional Life Gallery; into two main parts: the Chronological Flow Halls and 3. The Modern Gallery. The main historical and the One-to-One Theatres. These are preceded periods are presented in terms of socio-cultural by an Orientation Hall that presents background development, a concept previously used in Jordan information on Jordan’s geography and geology, at the Museum of Jordanian Heritage, Yarmouk and general guidance regarding the exhibition University. The names of the halls were chosen halls. Starting here, exhibitions are used to encour- to reflect the periods they present and also to be age visitors to explore not only the Museum, but attractive to visitors (FIG. 4, noting that no ap- also cultural sites in Jordan. propriate name is yet available for the Abbasid- The Chronological Flow Halls are divided Fatimid Hall).

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4. Jordan Museum Chronological Flow Halls.

The concluding main gallery, the Modern Gal- introduced the notion of the One-to-One Theatres lery, covers Jordan’s modern and contemporary back in 2003, many details and concepts have been history from the Great Arab Revolt of 1916 up to evolving over the years (for example, compare FIG. the present, and describes the collective efforts of 4 to Barghouti et al. 2007: 144, FIG. 5). It is our the Hashemites and Jordanian people to build a vision that this process of evolution will continue modern and reformed country. even after the opening of the museum. The Traditional Life Gallery overlaps and connects the Archaeological and Modern exhibits. It presents The Archaeological Exhibits traditional heritage — Jordan’s “Living History” — Thanks to the help of the Department of Antiqui- with the aim of linking today’s generation of Jorda- ties and museum curators, we have been able to re- nian youth with their national heritage, highlighting cord thousands of objects from all time periods and elements relevant to modern Jordanian society. regions of Jordan for potential display. These are In terms of space, the Archaeology and History on loan from the Department of Antiquities and in- Gallery is the largest gallery in the Museum, pre- clude some of the treasures of Jordanian archaeol- senting Jordan’s history and culture from the Palae- ogy, including ‘Ayn Ghazål statues, the Tulaylåt al- olithic until the end of the Ottoman era in four main Ghasøl wall painting, the Pella ivory box, Khirbat sections: 1. The Stone Ages (Palaeolithic, Epipa- adh-Dharπ˙ Nabataean statues, and the bronze bra- laeolithic, Neolithic and Chalcolithic); 2. Dawn of zier of al-Fudayn, as well as others that are currently History (Bronze and Iron Ages); 3. The Classical on display at the Jordan Archaeological Museum at Periods (Hellenistic, Nabataean, Roman and Byz- ‘Amman Citadel. As for the regional archaeologi- antine periods); and 4. Islamic Periods (Rashidun, cal museums, it is our policy not to weaken their Umayyad, Abbasid-Fatimid, Ayyubid-Mamluk and exhibits so therefore the vast majority of artefacts Ottoman periods), that is to say from the “In the requested for loan are from their reserve (storage) Beginning” through to “The Last Caliphate” halls collections. All objects that are regarded as ‘icons’ in FIG. 4. of specific sites, such as the Ilahat Óayyan idol of Although the divisions described above have re- Petra and the Tyche statue of Umm Qays, were not mained little changed in their essentials since we requested for loan but are represented at the Jor-

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5. Jordan Museum One-to-One Theatres. dan Museum by photographs in order to encour- themes in FIG. 3. Of course, these ‘words’ have age people to visit the sites and to see these objects to be beautifully presented to make the story more where they belong. appealing. As for the development of the exhibition, we A main consideration in the exhibits is the impor- were guided by three main principles: tance of size. While plans and maps are used to rep- 1. The museum experience should be holistic and resent large structures and regions, no small-scale reciprocal, for us and for our museum ‘guests’. models are used and all physical reconstructions are The museum is a home of our culture and people at a scale of 1:1. This means that no structures can coming into this home are therefore our guests; be reconstructed in full within the museum, owing 2. The objects on display were made and used by to space constraints. Instead, what is presented are people like us and like our guests. They are spe- ‘cut-models’ of structures with reconstructed ele- cial objects to care for and understand; and ments that cannot be seen in their original natural 3. Familiarity negates alienation, of the guests and settings, e.g. there are cut-model reconstructions of of the exhibits. This can only be achieved by houses from Epipalaeolithic Wådπ al-Óamma, Neo- emphasising contexts and relations. lithic ‘Ayn Ghazål and Chalcolithic Abø Óåmid Thus, we regard the Museum as a place to en- that show standing walls, and a reconstruction of joy learning as well as communication. For this the sugar cane crushing mechanism of mediaeval purpose we use interactive devices and films in ˇawå˙πn as-Sukkar. all halls, varying from the simple “See and handle A major innovation at the Jordan Museum are how archaeologists date by stratigraphy and pot the One-to-One Theatres that compliment the main sherds” or “Engrave your own inscription”, to elab- Chronological Flow Halls. orate computer programs that answer questions on archaeometry and dating techniques, allow you to The One-to-One Theatres dress up as a resident of ‘Ayn Ghazål or even write 1. Spaces that present special thematic exhibitions your name in Aramaic and Greek. as ‘time capsules’, irrespective of historical pe- Objects are not displayed as mere objets d’art riod; but are considered as words in a story. Objects for 2. Dispersed among the Chronological Flow Halls, exhibition in each hall are contextualized, grouped they complement the main exhibition galleries and presented in accordance with the narrative (FIG. 5, compare to Barghouti et al. 2007: 144,

-223- Khairieh ‘Amr ET AL. Fig. 6). Namba were a significant help to us in the develop- 3. The main interactive spaces in the museum, ment of the exhibition. where emphasis is placed on interpretation and We are also very lucky to have benefited from guest participation. They embody the principle Jordanian talents, institutions and firms who, of “please touch”, as opposed to the “DO NOT through our international contractor, are working TOUCH” emphasis of the Chronological Flow with us on the creation of the exhibition, not forget- Halls; ting the children of Jordan who shared their ideas 4. The exhibits address all age groups simultane- with us by means of workshops held by the Jordan ously, in simple terms that respect their intelli- Museum and local educational institutions. gence. Special thanks to our driving force, Dr Faris The theatres start with The Earth, which explains Nimry, whose determination, concern and innova- the means by which we obtain archaeological data tive thinking are making a real difference to the about the past and the major earth resources used evolution of our work. by the people of Jordan to produce the artefacts Last, but not least, we are grateful for the sup- on display in the galleries. They also describe the port of our Board of Trustees and especially to the characteristics that differentiate Humans from oth- Vice-Chairperson, Princess Sumaya Bint El Has- er members of the animal kingdom, discuss the de- san, who devotes much of her time and insight to- velopment of ways of life through Nomadism and wards the development of the Museum. Writing, the development of technology in lighting and, finally, bridge into the future through theChil - References cited dren of Jordan and Exploring our future. Al-Azzawi, A.S., Salim, A.R. and Rajjal, Y.I. The His- torical Development of the Jordanian Rural House Acknowledgements and its Effects on Traditional and Modern Buildings. The Jordan Museum is very much the result of co- Pp. 325-332 in SHAJ 5. Amman: Department of An- operation between hundreds of individuals. First of tiquities. all, we are grateful to the many scholars who gen- Barghouti, A., ‘Amr, K., Kafafi, J. and Jarrar, C. 2007. erously gave us their time, effort and knowledge. The National Museum: The Story Teller of Jordan. The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the Pp. 137-144 in T.S. Akasheh (ed.), Second Interna- Ministry of Public Works and Housing, the “Tour- tional Conference on Archaeology and Conserva- ism Sector Development Project” Management tion, 7-12 December 2003, JORDAN. Granada: Fun- Unit, our technical advisors from JICA, our exhibi- dación El Legado Andalusi. tion contractor “PICO International” and our con- Brawne, M. and Associates 1979. Reports of the Antiq- sultants “Pacific Consultants International” are all uities Dept./Amman of the Architectural Design for directly and crucially involved in the accomplish- the National Archaeological Museum, The Citadel ment of the Jordan Museum. – Amman. London, Bath, Amman: Buro Happold Without the efforts and collaboration of Dr Faw- Arab-Tech. waz al-Khraysheh and the employees of the De- Ibrahim, M. 1991. Jordan National Museum. Newslet- partment of Antiquities, our main partner, nothing ter of the Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology would have been achieved. Yarmouk University 11: 1-4. The creative and non-conformist ideas of Yusuke

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