On May 21st, the Minister of Culture, Dr. Lubana Mushaweh, and the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Omani National Museum, Dr. Mona bint Fahd Al Said, inaugurated the exhibition (Syria, the Cradle of Civilizations) in Muscat.
In her speech during the opening, Minister Mushawah noted the depth of civilized and cultural relations between the two brotherly countries and the great joint efforts made by the two parties to restore and document Syrian artifacts, and then hold this exhibition, which is the first of its kind in Oman.
The two sides also held joint talks in the presence of the Secretary-General of the Omani National Museum Jamal bin Hassan Al-Moussawi, the Syrian Ambassador to Amman Idris Maya and the Director-General of Antiquities and Museums Nazir Awad.
The two sides reviewed the restoration work in Beit Ajqbash in Aleppo and the Maarat al-Numan Museum in Idlib, and the importance of Syria’s loaning of Ibn Majid’s manuscript to the Sultanate of Oman.
The Syrian side handed over the technical report for the preservation of the destroyed statues, and praised the role of the Omani National Museum in helping to retrieve an artifact in the custody of the British Museum.
It is noteworthy that the Syrian antiquities were exhibited temporarily at the Oman National Museum, where the number of pieces is estimated at 175 pieces, which were restored and preserved using modern methods in the laboratories of the Oman Museum.
O. al-Mohammad