Tomorrow, Tuesday (20 December 2016), SCTH will kick off “Roads of Arabia” exhibition at the National Museum of China in Beijing, People’s Republic of China. This will be its first leg in Asia and eleventh stations internationally, after it having been held in 4 European countries and 5 US cities, in addition to its recent national station at King Abdul Aziz International Cultural Center in Al Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
SCTH along with the National Museum of China in Beijing, has concluded all the necessary preparations for the launch of this important cultural demonstration, as archeological objects have been prepared and fixed in the museum hall for display, besides making ready of exhibition related publications and print material in coordination with the museum staff and Saudi embassy in Beijing.
The exhibition will display 466 rare archeological objects that highlight the Kingdom’s heritage and cultural dimensions and the successive civilizations that had taken place in the Kingdom through the ages.
Archeological objects that will be shown by the exhibition cover a period of time extending from the Stone Age (1million year BP), since prehistoric times to pre-Islamic times, early, middle and late Arabic Kingdoms, early and middle Islamic eras, and until the emergence of the Saudi State in its three stages, up to the reign of King Abdul Aziz.
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul Aziz (may Allah protect him), on Thursday 1 December 2016, had opened the Roads of Arabia exhibition in its national station at King Abdul Aziz International Cultural Center in Al Dhahran and gave his approval for the launch of the exhibition’s Asian tour starting from Beijing, the Chinese capital, in light of the remarkable success it has achieved in its past nine stations which has begun at the Louver Museum in France, followed by La Caixa Foundation in Spain, the State Hermitage Museum, Russia, the Pergamon Museum in Germany, then followed by USA tour in which it has been held in Sackler Gallery in Washington DC, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Fine Art Museum in Texas, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Missouri, Asian Art Museum in San Francesco.
“Roads of Arabia” exhibition constitutes a major episode in the route of raising awareness on the cultural dimension of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under the routes of the “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Program for Caring of Kingdom’s Cultural Heritage”, which was approved in May 2014 in the reign of Late King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz then reaffirmed and approved by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul Aziz (may Allah protect him) on September 2015 as a historic and national important project reflects the progress in the heritage projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The exhibition aims to introduce the world the history and cultures of the Arabian Peninsula and the Kingdom through displaying Kingdom’s heritage and archeological treasures that embody its cultural dimension, besides enhancing cultural communication among the world nations, emphasizing that the Kingdom is not an incident in the realm of history, rather it was a home to many great human civilizations crowned by the great Islamic civilization.
Noteworthy, Saudi Aramco will continue to sponsor the exhibition in its new tour across East Asia, as it has done in its previous nine stations.
