Discover the Jordan Museum: Saeed Bayashoot (ITP 2016)

While ITP fellow Saeed Bayashoot (ITP 2016, Yemen) was unfortunately unable to join us for the ITP+ course in Photography and Documentation, he has been making the most of his time in Amman by visiting heritage sites and museums in the city.

Saeed has written for us to share with us some reflections on the Jordan Museum.

By Saeed Bayashoot, Documentation and Collections Management, Seiyun Museum, Yemen

As you enter, you see a stone sculpture of Atargatis, the Syrian goddess of fertility that once decorated the entrance of a Nabataean temple: this is the Jordan Museum.

During my stay in Jordan, I paid a visit to the Jordan Museum, which is located in the new downtown area of Ras al-‘Ayn. The museum presents archaeology and history, traditional life, modern Jordan, and links to the present day. This is what astonished me in their exhibitions: you can see the past and present compared – then and now – and the display also addresses real-life issues for its visitors. For instance, there are artefacts on the production of food covering thousands of years.

I also visited the temporary exhibition, 1001 Inventions. This exhibition showcases 1001 years of scientific and cultural innovations in Muslim civilisation, from the 7th centry. It aims to inspire ambition and, more importantly, learning and engagement. School children visiting the exhibition can experience live shows with storytelling by actors. Overall, the concept of the exhibition is brilliant.

I left the museum with knowledge of how their artefacts are showcased and the themes they are addressing, and hoping to have other similar experiences in other parts of the world.