Museum of Jordanian Heritage preserves ancient cultural gems

AMMAN — The Museum of Jordanian Heritage (MJH), initiated by Yarmouk University in Irbid in 1988, aims to present the social history of not only Jordan, but also the region since the dawn of civilisation, said a Jordanian scholar.

Professor Emeritus Muawiyah Ibrahim told The Jordan Times in a recent e-mail interview that former ambassador of Germany Herwig Bartels played a “significant role” in the founding of the museum, providing financial and technical support.

The Department of Antiquity provided collections of objects from different historical periods, while scholar Widad Qa’war also helped the museum with her collections of ethnographic costumes, Ibrahim said.

“The display highlights the cultural heritage and the environment in Jordan, which consists of three main geographic zones: The Desert, the Highland and the Jordan Rift Valley,” the professor noted.

The museum has an educational programme offering a number of activities for scholars, students, the Jordanian community and visitors from abroad, Ibrahim said, adding that the MJH also offers facilities and collections for teaching purposes.

“It serves also as an educational tool for introductory courses and museum studies. To achieve these goals, the MJH organises special temporary exhibits on various cultural topics,” the scholar said, stressing that topics can include recent excavations, archaeological discoveries and restoration/conservation projects,  as well as ethnographic collections from various parts of the region.