16 December 2024, 11:08

Lukashenko arrives at Oman National Museum

MUSCAT, 16 December (BelTA) – Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has arrived at the National Museum of Oman, BelTA has learned.

The National Museum is located opposite Al Alam Palace. The decree to build the new museum building was issued on 20 November 2013. It was officially opened on 30 July 2016.

The total area of the museum is 13,700 square meters, including 4,000 square meters allocated for 14 permanent galleries: the Land and the People, Splendors of Islam, Oman and the World, Maritime History, Arms and Armour, Prehistory and Ancient History, Intangible Heritage, Aflaj (irrigation systems of Oman) and others. A further 400 square meters are allocated for temporary exhibitions.

The National Museum of Oman has become the first museum in the Middle East to adopt Arabic Braille script for the visually impaired.

Interestingly, the museum's Secretary General Jamal al-Moosawi speaks Russian as his mother hails from Belarus. “I am well acquainted with Belarus and its history, as it is my mother’s homeland. I am proud that our ancestors showed patriotism and heroism in preserving their native land and its independence, giving their lives for it during the Great Patriotic War. Our family in Oman carefully keeps family documents telling about the life history of our Belarusian ancestors,” he told BelTA a few years ago.

In 2018, the National History Museum of Belarus and the National Museum of the Sultanate of Oman signed a memorandum of understanding, exchanged exhibitions.

During his visit to Oman in October 2024, Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko visited the Royal Opera House Muscat and the National Museum. He presented the museum with the Francysk Skaryna facsimile edition which contains all the famous works by the Belarusian first printer.

In the autumn of 2019, the National Art Museum of Belarus hosted the exhibition “Oman: the Jewel of the East. Crafts Heritage” from the holdings of the National Museum of the Sultanate. In 2020-2021, the National Museum of Oman ran the exposition “Patterns and Symbols: Belarusian Ornament Heritage” displaying a variety of traditional folk customs shown in symbols, decorative patterns and woven prints.