National Museum

The largest and most fascinating museum in Saudi Arabia is its National Museum. It is a great place to spend a day learning about millennia of Arabian pre-history, history, culture, and art. The National Museum transports tourists on a marvelously interactive tour of the past and houses everything from Neolithic rock art to reproductions of the buildings of old Jeddah within magnificent modernist architecture and flower-wreathed gardens.

Mid-Week visits will help you to avoid crowds and have more time to stroll through the halls of the museum. A continual rotation of activities, guest exhibitions, and programs will keep you interested and glued to the museum for a whole day.

How to explore National Museum?

Hall 1: The Universe and Man

• Visit this 1,500 square ft. space to learn about the past of our planet.
• Get a peek at the mastodon and other ancient animals that once roamed the Arabian Peninsula.
• Admire meteorites and investigate a replica of the stunning Tuwaiq mountain range.
• Don't miss the captivating display of rock sculptures discovered and carved in the southern city of Najran, which includes an old human handprint cut into a rock.

Hall 2: Retracing History

• Investigate the pre-Islamic civilizations that emerged throughout the early, middle, and late Arab kingdoms.
• Look for exhibits that are noteworthy and feature some of the earliest Thamudic, Aramaic, and Islamic texts engraved on stone slabs.
• There are numerous archaeological artifacts to view, including pottery, beautiful jewelry, and murals from the Assyrian palace.
• Explore the pre-Islamic era's key cities and sketches of their ancient trade routes that once snaked through the Arabian sands, bringing incense, pearls, and other items to the rest of the globe.
• Check out the imitation of traditional Arab markets to discover where they were once sold.

Hall 3: The Islamic Conquest

• The Prophet's Mission hall features exquisitely crafted displays that trace the life of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), from his birth in Makkah through his migration to Madinah.
• Check out the massive ceramic mural's bulky components and the Holy Quran's 500-year-old manuscripts.
• Take a look at the origins of Islam in the section that features the Arabian Peninsula.
• Learn about the early Arab contributions to science, medicine, and astronomy.

Hall 4: Birth of a Nation

• From the first two Saudi states through the establishment of a single kingdom in 1932, the growth of Saudi Arabia is traced in this hall.
• Search these galleries for the hidden troves of scripts, rare books, and coins.
• Explore the restored homes that provide a sense of the time.
• A must-attend are the exhibitions of Hajj and the Two Holy Mosques, where models and multimedia presentations depict Hajj rites, historic pilgrimage routes, and the development of Makkah and Medina.