The Jordan Museum is located in Ras Al-Ein district of

Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 as of 2021, Amman is ...

, Jordan. Built in 2014, the museum is the largest museum in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

and hosts the country's most important archaeological findings. Its two main permanent exhibitions are the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

, including the

Copper Scroll The Copper Scroll ( 3Q15) is one of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Cave 3 near Khirbet Qumran, but differs significantly from the others. Whereas the other scrolls are written on parchment or papyrus, this scroll is written on metal: copper mixed ...

, and the 9000-year-old

ʿAin Ghazal statues The ʿAin Ghazal Statues are a number of large-scale lime plaster and reed statues discovered at the archeological site of ʿAin Ghazal in Jordan, dating back to approximately 9000 years ago (made between 7200 BC and 6500 BCE), from the Pre-Potte ...

, which are among the oldest human statues ever made. The museum presents artifacts from various prehistoric archaeological sites in Jordan. Statues of Ain Ghazal 1

The collections in the museum are arranged in chronological order and also features lecture halls, outdoor exhibitions, a library, a conservation centre and an area for children's activities. The museum was established by a committee headed by

Queen Rania Rania Al-Abdullah ( ar, رانيا العبد الله, ; born Rania Al-Yassin, 31 August 1970) is Queen of Jordan as the wife of King Abdullah II. Rania was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents. She received her bachelor's degree in busines ...

, which became the only museum in Jordan to implement modern artifact-preserving technologies.

Background

The

Jordan Archaeological Museum The Jordan Archaeological Museum is located in the Citadel of Amman, Jordan. Built in 1951, it presents artifacts from archaeological sites in Jordan, dating from prehistoric times to the 15th century. The collections are arranged in chronological ...

was established in 1951, atop Amman's Citadel, to host Jordan's most important archaeological findings. However, the old site became too small and the idea of developing a new modern museum emerged in 2005. A joint committee headed by

became responsible for developing the idea of a new modern museum by international standards. Construction started in 2009 and the museum was officially opened in 2014, spanning over 10,000 square meters.

Location

The museum is located in the Ras Al-Ein area near

downtown Amman Downtown Amman ( ar, البلد, al-Balad) is an old, central commercial area of Amman, Jordan. History The Balad is the oldest section of the city. It is believed to have first been inhabited during the Neolithic period (around 6500 B.C.). The ...

, adjacent to the

Greater Amman Municipality Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 as of 2021, Amman is ...

headquarters. The Museum is only a street away (20-minute's walk) from major archaeological sites in Amman such as the Roman theater,

Nymphaeum A ''nymphaeum'' or ''nymphaion'' ( grc, νυμφαῖον), in ancient Greece and Rome, was a monument consecrated to the nymphs, especially those of springs. These monuments were originally natural grottoes, which tradition assigned as habit ...

Amman Citadel The Amman Citadel ( ar, جبل القلعة, Jabal Al-Qal'a) is an archeological site at the center of downtown Amman, the capital of Jordan. The L-shaped hill is one of the seven hills (''jabals'') that originally made up Amman. The Citad ...

and The Hashemite Plaza.

Major artifacts

The museum collection includes animal bones dating back to 1.5 million years, 9000-year-old ʿAin Ghazal lime plaster statues, part of the

, including the

, and a reproduction of the

Mesha Stele The Mesha Stele, also known as the Moabite Stone, is a stele dated around 840 BCE containing a significant Canaanite inscription in the name of King Mesha of Moab (a kingdom located in modern Jordan). Mesha tells how Chemosh, the god of Moab, ...

. The human statues found at

'Ain Ghazal El Ain ( ar, العين), Al Ain, or Ain is a village at an elevation of on a foothill of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains in the Baalbek District of the Baalbek-Hermel Governorate, Lebanon. It is famous for agriculture and trade, located on the highw ...

constitute one of the world's oldest human statues ever made by human civilization dating back to 7000 BC. 'Ain Ghazal is a major

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

village in

that was discovered in 1981. The

Dead Sea The Dead Sea ( he, יַם הַמֶּלַח, ''Yam hamMelaḥ''; ar, اَلْبَحْرُ الْمَيْتُ, ''Āl-Baḥrū l-Maytū''), also known by other names, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Ban ...

was found near Khirbet

Qumran Qumran ( he, קומראן; ar, خربة قمران ') is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel's Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry marl plateau about from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israeli ...

, which is an inventory of hidden gold and silver in specie, but also some vessels, presumably taken from the

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

in Jerusalem in ''circa'' 68 CE. It is written in a Mishnaic-style of Hebrew. The

is a large black basalt stone that was erected in Moab and was inscribed by Moabite king

Mesha King Mesha ( Moabite: 𐤌𐤔𐤏 *''Māšaʿ''; Hebrew: מֵישַׁע ''Mēšaʿ'') was a king of Moab in the 9th century BC, known most famously for having the Mesha Stele inscribed and erected at Dibon. In this inscription he calls himself ...

, in which he lauds himself for the building projects that he initiated in Moab (modern day

Al-Karak Al-Karak ( ar, الكرك), is a city in Jordan known for its medieval castle, the Kerak Castle. The castle is one of the three largest castles in the region, the other two being in Syria. Al-Karak is the capital city of the Karak Governorate ...

) and commemorates his glory and victory against the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

. The stele constitutes one of the most important direct accounts of biblical history. Other major artifacts are the Balu'a Stele, with an Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription, and the marble head of the Greek goddess

Tyche Tyche (; Ancient Greek: Τύχη ''Túkhē'', 'Luck', , ; Roman equivalent: Fortuna) was the presiding tutelary deity who governed the fortune and prosperity of a city, its destiny. In Classical Greek mythology, she is the daughter of Aphrod ...

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jordan Museum, The Museums established in 2014 Archaeological museums in Jordan 2014 establishments in Jordan Museums of Ancient Near East in Jordan Museums in Amman

Background

Location

Major artifacts

See also

References

External links