the image of arab museums. some consideration about the presentation of arab museums in internet...

Proceedings of the 8th International Congresson the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East

Volume 3

Proceedingsof the 8th International Congress

on the Archaeologyof the Ancient Near East

30 April – 4 May 2012,University of Warsaw

Volume 3Archaeology of Fire,

Conservation, Preservation and Site Management,Bioarchaeology in the Ancient Near East

Islamic SessionSelected papers from workshop sessions

Edited byPiotr Bieliński, Michał Gawlikowski,

Rafał Koliński, Dorota Ławecka, Arkadiusz Sołtysiakand Zuzanna Wygnańska

2014Harrassowitz Verlag · Wiesbaden

Cover illustration: Impression of a third millennium BC cylinder seal fromTell Arbid in Syria combined with the depiction of a mermaid – a motif fromWarsaw’s coat of arms. Designed by Łukasz Rutkowski.

Bibliografische Information der Deutschen NationalbibliothekDie Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der DeutschenNationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografi sche Daten sind im Internetüber http://dnb.dnb.de abrufbar.

Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche NationalbibliothekThe Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the DeutscheNationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the internet

at http://dnb.dnb.de.

For further information about our publishing program consult ourwebsite http://www.harrassowitz-verlag.de

© Otto Harrassowitz GmbH & Co. KG, Wiesbaden 2014This work, including all of its parts, is protected by copyright.Any use beyond the limits of copyright law without the permissionof the publisher is forbidden and subject to penalty. This appliesparticularly to reproductions, translations, microfilms and storageand processing in electronic systems.Printed on permanent/durable paper.Printing and binding: Memminger MedienCentrum AGPrinted in Germany

ISBN 978-3-447-10175-2

CONTENTS

FOREWORD OF THE EDITORS .......................................................................................XIPROGRAMME OF THE CONGRESS ...............................................................................XIII

VOLUME III

ARCHAEOLOGY OF FIRE

AGNIESZKA PIEŃKOWSKA

The Fire and Light. Mesopotamian Lamps from Polish Archaeological Excavations on Tell Arbid ...................................................3

ANNA SMOGORZEWSKA

Cooking, Heating and Processing. The Function of Fire Installations in Household Activities at Tell Arbid (NE Syria) .......................................17

MONICA TONUSSI

Pierced Andirons and Vessel Supports for Fireplaces from the Caucasus to the Near East: A Way to Optimize the Heat of Fire? ..............................31

KATHRYN GROSSMAN

Fire Installations in a Late Ninevite 5 Complex at Hamoukar, Syria .........47SARA PIZZIMENTI

A Light in the Darkness. Some Hints on Fire Perception and Rituality as Represented in 2nd Millennium BC Mesopotamian Glyptic ................61

ELISA GIROTTO

The Symbolism of Fire in War in Ancient Mesopotamia ...........................73PAOLO MATTHIAE

Fire and Arts. Some Reflections about the Consideration of Art in Assyria ..........................................................................................93

ALINE TENU, STÉPHANE ROTTIER

Fire in Funeral Contexts: New Data from Tell Al-Nasriyah (Syria) ........123SILVIA FESTUCCIA

Metallurgical Activities and Moulds: the Case of Ebla ............................137KRISTINA A. FRANKE

The Metallurgical Inventory from Tell Chuera: A Direct Comparison of Qualitative pXRF and Quantitative WDS Data ...................................151

NICOLAS GAILHARD

Reflections on Experimentation and Innovations Process: the Origin of Iron in Anatolia ...................................................................173

JOHNNY SAMUELE BALDI

Ceramic Production and Management of Fire Between Late Ubaid and LC1. The Potters' Kilns of Tell Feres al-Sharqi .................................187

LUCA PEYRONEL, AGNESE VACCA

From Clay to Pots: Pottery Production and Workplaces in Syria during the EB III-IV ....................................................................201

ANDREA POLCARO

Fire and Death: Incineration in the Levantine Early-Middle Bronze AgeCemeteries as Mark of Cultural Identities, or as Technical Instrument of Purification? .........................................................................................223

FRANCESCO LEPRAI

The Collapsed Wood Accumulation in the Well-Room of the Royal Palace of Tall Mišrife/Qatna: a 3D Reconstruction .............235

CONSERVATION, PPRESERVATION AND SITE MANAGEMENT

ANDREW JAMIESON, DIANNE FITZPATRICK

Sustainable Management Strategies for Near Eastern Archaeological Collections ................................................................................................251

JEANINE ABDUL MASSIH

The Roman House of Cyrrhus – the Restoration Project .........................269ZEIDAN A. KAFAFI

Modern Human Activities Impact on the Archaeological Heritage: an Example from the Site Jebel Abu Thawwab ........................................283

AHMED FATIMA KZZO

The Image of Arab Museums. Some Consideration about the Presentation of Arab Museums in Internet Sites .......................295

BIOARCHAEOLOGY IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

CHIE AKASHI

Grazing and Fodder-Gathering in the Early Bronze Age Syria: the Case of Tell Ghanem al-'Ali (TGA) ....................................................309

RAFAŁ A. FETNER

The Results of Anthropological Research of Human Remains from the Old Babylonian Tomb from Bakr Āwa, Iraq .....................................319

JACEK TOMCZYK, MARTA ZALEWSKA

Pilot Study of Dental Erosion in the Middle Euphrates Valley (Syria) ....329

VI Contents

ANNE-MARIE TILLER

Diagnosis of Skeletal Lesions within Levantine Upper Pleistocene Populations. Evidence from Early Nomadic Hunter-Gatherers at Qafzeh (Israel) ......................................................................................341

Giovanni Siracusano, Giulio Palumbi “Who'd be Happy, Let Him Be so: Nothing's Sure about Tomorrow” Discarded Bones in an Early Bronze I Elite Area at Arslantepe (Malatya, Turkey): Remains of Banquets? ...............................................349

ROBERT SATAEV, LILIYA SATAEVA

Results of archaeozoological and archaeobotanical researches at the Bronze Age site Gonur Depe (Turkmenistan) ................................367

EMMANUELE PETITI, ANDREA INTILIA, ARNULF HAUSLEITER

Bioarchaeological Investigations at a 4th – 3rd century BC Cemetery at Tayma, North-West Arabia ...................................................................371

ISLAMIC SESSION

BETHANY J. WALKER

Exercising Power on the Mamluk Frontier: The Phenomenon of the Small Rural Citadel, Case of Tall Hisban .......................................393

ABED TAGHAVI, HOSSEIN TAROMIAN

An Archaeological survey of Tomb Towers and Sepulchral Buildings in Semiran City in Islamic Periods ...........................................................407

RAFFAELLA PAPPALARDO

“Wheel-free”: The Islamic Handmade Pottery From Tell Barri (Syria) ...417AYALA LESTER

Reconsidering Fatimid Metalware ............................................................437JULIE BONNÉRIC

An Archaeology of Light in Classical Islam: Studying an Immaterial Phenomenon in Medieval Mosques ..........................................................455

SOPHIA LAPARIDOU

Identyfying Land Use Practices in Medieval Jordan Using Phytolith Analysis ....................................................................................................467

ALAN WALMSLEY

Islamic Archaeology in Qatar: Al Zubarah and its Hinterland(s) .............479

Contents VII

SELECTED PAPERS FROM WORKSHOP SESSIONS

JEANINE ABDUL MASSIH

Le Liban de la Fin des Royaumes Hellénistiques à l'Avenement de l'Empire Romain ..........................................................497

JULIEN CHANTEAU

The Chalcolithic Shrine at En-Gedi. Aesthetics – Symbolism – Structure .........................................................509

ZAUR HASANOV

A Reflection of the Cimmerian and Scythian Religious Rites in Archaeology ..........................................................................................527

DAFNA LANGGUT

Southern Levant Pollen Record, Palaeo-Climate and Human Impact from the Late Bronze Age to the Persian period ......................................541

DR. STEVEN MARKOFSKY

Windows on a Delta Margin: A Case Study from the Murghab Delta, Turkmenistan ............................................................................................559

JOYCE NASSAR

A New Necropolis Uncovered in Beirut: Analysis of the Funeral SpaceManagement inside a Classical Hypogeum (Preliminary Report) ...........575

KRZYSZTOF ULANOWSKI

Ideology or Religiosity? Factual Context of the Neo-Assyrian Concept of Kingship ...............................................591

VIII Contents

THE IMAGE OF ARAB MUSEUMS. SOME CONSIDERATIONS

ABOUT THE PRESENTATION OF ARAB MUSEUMS IN INTERNET SITES1

AHMED FATIMA KZZO2

ABSTRACT

The Archeology of the Near East started nearly 200 years ago with Napoleon’s expe-dition to Egypt, so archaeology was associated with colonial European movements,which usually considered the ‘Orient’ and its civilizations as an alien, vague object.This led to a general definition of the main peculiarities of the ‘Orient’, as a complexof cultures and civilizations totally separate from the ‘Occident’. Now, after 200 yearsof Oriental Archaeology, how do the Arabs present themselves? This article analysesthe presentation of some Arab museums, focusing on the utilization of the internet,with an attempt at examining the languages used and the effects of the ideology of theState as a reaction against colonialism in the languages used, as well as examining theeffects of globalization on these museums.

THE MUSEUM

A museum is an institution that cares for and studies collections of artifacts and otherobjects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance, and makes them avail-able for the public through exhibitions, either permanent or temporary.

The Arabic word for museum is فحتم ‘mathaf’; however, when I have tried todeal with the origin of the meaning of the word ‘mathaf’, I usually find explanationsof the meaning of the English word ‘museum’. For example, in the Arabic version ofthe common and widespread Wikipedia, there are no etymological explanations of howand when the word ‘mathaf’ was first invented and used. On the contrary, a detaileddescription of the etymological origin of the word ‘museum’ is given (Wikipedia Ara-bic 2013). In contrast to the Arabic language, other languages, such as Turkish, Persianand Hebrew, have adopted and adapted the Greek word ‘mouseion’: ‘müze’ in Turk-ish, زوم in Persian and מוזיאון in Hebrew.

The word ‘mathaf’ means exactly: ‘the place where masterpieces (tuhaf) are kept’Al-Wasitt Dictionary عجم الوسيط ) 2004: 81). In some way, the new Arabic word‘mathaf’ has translated the meaning of museum as the place where works of art are ex-hibited, while it does not imply any research connotation.

1 To my People, the heart of the world, who are taking and giving culture.

2 Università di Sapienza.

SYRIA

On 8 March 1963, Husb Al Ba‘th Al Araby Al Eshtiraky (The Arab Socialist Ren-aissance Party) took power, with a consequent increase of Arab culture: since than,more things and aspects in history started to be considered as peculiarly Arab.3

In Syria, there are two national museums: the Museum of Damascus and the Mu-seum of Aleppo. These museums do not have their own official websites; instead, thereare only ‘official’ pages on the site of the Syrian Ministry of Tourism and the site ofthe Ministry of Culture.

The National Museum of Damascus was founded in 1919 in Al Madrasseh al‘Adiliyeh. But the current building was designed and built by Michel Ecochard in1936, with additional wings constructed in 1956 and 1975 (Ministry of Tourism – Syria2006: Al-Mathaf Al-Watany). The façade is imposing as it is decorated with the stuccofaçade of Qasr Al-Hiir Al-Gharbi dated to the Umayyed Age; it is really different fromthe other neighboring historical Ottoman buildings.

The internet site of the Syrian Ministry of Tourism,4 in 2006, presents the collec-tion of the museum and its halls by saying:

…a complete fresco was transferred from Dura Europos, and a Temple was recon-structed in a special wing; this temple is perhaps a unique example in the worldbearing a representation of Torah’s protagonists.5

On the contrary, the website of the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Muse-ums of Syria (Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums – Syria 2007) presentsand explains, in 2008, the historical value and contribution of old pre-classical cul-tures, such as Ebla, Mari and Ugarit, the Christian era and Islamic periods, and di-rectly mentions the Synagogue of Dura Europos.

Both sites present this information in the Arabic language, while the English ver-sion presents a little information and some news.

The National Museum of Aleppo was founded in 1931, in a small Ottoman palace;later, in 1966, a modern structure for the museum was built (Rossi 2011: 302). Itsfaçade recalls the façade of the temple-palace of Tell Halaf, with a magnificent effecton the viewer because of its peculiar and unique nature and shape if compared to theneighboring architecture. The museum is particularly important for its Ancient NearEastern collection. On the website of the Ministry of Tourism (Ministry of Tourism –Syria 2006: Al-Mathaf Al-Watany), we can find the following definition:

296 Ahmed Fatima Kzzo

3 I have used the phrase ‘more things’ because Arab nationalism started even before the foundation of theBa‘th Party in 1947. The nationalism process started in the early 20th century AD, with the decline of theOttoman Empire. See Galvani 1974.

4 At the moment, the website www.syriatourism.org/index.php?module=subjects&func=viewpage&pageid=1944 does not work properly.

5 Translated from Arabic, emphasis mine

The national museum of Aleppo is one of most important museums in the world,because all its collection is Syrian and it does not host objects from another coun-tries, as other museums do.6

IRAQ

In Iraq, the Ba‘th party took over power in 1968.In Iraq, we can find the most famous museum of Mesopotamian culture: the Iraq

Museum in Baghdad. The Iraq Museum – the old Baghdad Archeological Museum –was opened by King Faisal in 1923, in one hall of the 19th-century Ottoman Saray(Rossi 2011: 305). Speaking of the present building, the official website of the mu-seum (The Iraq Museum 2009: About) states:

The original buildings (Old Museum Building, Administration Building, Library,and Old Storage Building) were built on the present site with the help of the GermanGovernment in 1964-1966 and opened in 1966. The New Museum Building was builtby the Italian Government in 1983. The newest building, the New Collections Build-ing, was built by Kortage Construction in 2006 sponsored by the Iraqi Government.

There are three websites of the Iraq Museum, two of which do not have an Arabicversion; the third should be an Arabic version but it does not work!7

The site does not provide any information about visiting the museum, but there isa Virtual Museum which offers the possibility to see the main objects and masterpieceskept inside. The project of the Virtual Museum of Baghdad was prepared by the Italian Research Council in recent years.

SAUDI ARABIA

The country was founded by Abdul-Aziz Al Saud in 1932, and its name (Saudi) comesfrom the name of the royal family (Saud). The Basic Law is the Constitution of SaudiArabia based on the Shari‘a and Al Qur’an, the holy book of Muslims.8

Recently, the kingdom has been promoting its culture and trying to present the rul-ing class as one which takes care of the promotion of cultural activities and research.

The Image of Arab Museums 297

6 Emphasis mine.7 On the basis of a news report on Aljazeera 28/11/2011 (AlJazeera 2000: Alaa Youcef), I found that some

Iraqi administrators rejected some historical information which was considered incorrect, concerning thedefinition ‘Iranian cultures’ on the Virtual Museum website: so the supposed Arabic webpage probablydoes not function for this reason. In fact, when we look at the previous names of the halls of the museumon another site (The Iraq Museum 2009: Exhibitions), no Hall representing Iranian cultures is present. Thethree English sites of the Iraq Museum are: 1) The Iraq Museum International site (Iraq Museum Inter-national 2007); 2) The Iraq Museum site (The Iraq Museum 2009); 3) The Virtual Museum of Iraq (TheVirtual Museum of Iraq).

8 See Chapter 1, Art. 1, from the Saudi Arabia Constitution (Yale Law School).

Thus, many exhibitions have been organized and sponsored in famous internationalmuseums.9 At the same time, buildings – such as the King Abdul-Aziz Historical Cen-ter in Al Riyadh – have been created. In Saudi Arabia, there are also private museumswhich are supported by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities.10

The National Museum is located in the middle part of the King Abdul-Aziz His-torical Center. It was opened in 1419h/AD 1999 on the occasion of the 1st anniversaryof the entrance of King Abdul-Aziz into Al Riyadh in 1319h/AD 1902 (The NationalMuseum – Saudi 2011: Muqaddima).11

The National Museum has a good and well-documented website, which presents themuseum, giving information on visiting hours and tickets; a virtual visit can also be ex-perienced. The departments of the museum are as follows:– Man and Universe Hall– Arab Kingdoms Hall– Jahiliyya Era Hall– The Prophet’s Mission Hall– Islam and the Arabian Peninsula Hall– Exhibition Hall of Saudi First & Second State– Exhibition Hall of the Kingdom’s Unification– The Hajj and the Two Holy Mosques Hall.It should be noted that the Hall of Man and Universe (The National Museum – Saudi2011: Man and Universe Hall) contains: a meteorite found in the Empty Quarter Desert,some samples of rocks and minerals from different regions of the Kingdom, a modelof a mastodon elephant, tables showing the geological eras of the Earth, some Neo-lithic tools and Ubaid pottery. Even though we are dealing with the Hall of Man andUniverse, if we look for information on the human species, we do not find anything:so in the Hall of Man and Universe we can find the universe but nothing that informsus about man!12

Jahiliyya Era Hall covers the period from AD 400 to the Prophet’s Mission in 622;‘Jahiliyya’ means dark ages. There are a lot of models of ancient pieces like MeshaStele, the king of Moab with Phoenician script and models of houses: so we can callthis museum a ‘made-up museum’.


9 For the first time, there were several exhibitions outside Saudi Arabia and in different museums, such asHermitage Museum, Pergamon Museum, LA Caxia Foundation of Barcelona and Louvre Museum (SaudiCommission for Tourism 2008: Saudi Archeological Expo). Recently, in 2009, the Almadain site became the first in Saudi Arabia to be placed on the World Heritage List (UNESCO World HeritageCentre 1992: Director-General celebrates). For information on other sites in Arab States which havebeen placed on the World Heritage List, see: ICOMOS Documentation Centre May 2008.

10 There are more than twenty private museums; for more information, see the catalogue of the first meet-ing between owners of the private museums at Al Riyadh from 7th to 8th May 2011, see Saudi Commis-sion for Tourisim 2008: Matahif Khasa.

11 In Saudi Arabia, the Hijri Calendar is used – also on the website – along with the Gregorian Calendar;however, in the English version, the date of the opening is not recorded (The National Museum – Saudi2011: Introduction).

12 The educational system of Saudi Arabia is based on religion, so the theory of human evolution is ignored. For more information on the Saudi Arabian Education system, see Burton 2010.

As mentioned above, some pieces from Saudi Arabia have been shown during dif-ferent exhibitions in international museums; many pieces have been displayed for thefirst time, like the statues from Ha’el, Al-Ula and Tarut (Al-Faisal 2010).

In the Diplomat Journal, issue 24, July 2010, Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, adds:

The exhibition covers different historical periods starting from the Stone Age untilthe Saudi Renaissance, early Arabian kingdoms, Umayyad period, Abbasid period, Ottoman period, and Saudi Arabia’s unification by late King Abdul Aziz.13

Concerning the definition of ‘Saudi Renaissance’, this phrase is only used on the occasion of this international exhibition.14

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

The Emirates were constructed out of a group of princedoms in 1971 with the supportof the British Kingdom.

The most important cultural project is the Saadiyat Island with the so-calledSaadiyat Cultural District. In the United Arab Emirates, it is usually said that con-structions are very quick, while the history of memory is short, since day by day per-sons and places change so quickly. Saadiyat homes the Zayed National Museum,Louvre Abu Dhabi, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and the Performing Arts Centre.

At the Louvre Museum, the official site says (Saadiyat 2010: Inside the Museum)The central display will be complemented by a full program of temporary exhibitions.These will amplify the message of the museum’s galleries, inviting cultural loan andexchange from institutions all over the world.’ Thus, this will actually be the first international museum in the Arab world, as stated on the website.15


13 Emphasis mine.14 Usually there is an epoch called the ‘Arab Renaissance’: it began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

in Egypt, then spreading to Lebanon, Syria, and other countries. The ‘Saudi Renaissance’ is a new def-inition: it probably refers to the period after the discovery of oil in 1925, precisely during the reign ofthe kings Saud (1953-1965) and Faisal (1965-1975). For information on Saudi kings and their achieve-ments, see (Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Saudi 2005: Kings of Saudi Arabia).

15 The opening of the Louvre Museum and Guggenheim at Abu Dhabi caused a lot of discussion: there wasa strong reaction against the idea of lending objects to the Louvre in Abu Dhabi, with the consequent presentation of a petition (La Tribune de l’Arte 2003: Pétition). It will perhaps be the first UniversalMuseum in the Near East. For these ideas and information about cultural globalization, see the interest-ing book with the Declaration on the Importance and Value of Universal Museums, which was preparedby some directors of important museums in the world as a response to calls for the repatriation of objects of other cultures: Skluzacek 2010.

EGYPT

In 1952, the republic was founded by the movement of Free Officers following English domination since 1882, ending their control over the country and expellingthe British army (Shu’eb 2005).

The most famous museum in Egypt is the Egyptian Museum. The department of an-tiquity and the museum were founded in 1858, but the present building was designedby the French architect Marcel Dureanu in 1900 with a neo-classical style, painted inrose: thus, the building of the museum is very different in terms of its style and deco-ration from the neighboring buildings.16

Despite English domination, all the directors of the museum, from 1858 to 1941,were French.17 In 1941, Mahmoud Hamza became the first Egyptian director (Mahmoud 2012: 132).

TUNISIA

Tunisia was under French protectorate from 1881 to 1956 when it gained its independ-ence as a kingdom. On 25th July 1957, after the proclamation of the Tunisian Republic,the nationalist leader Habib Bourguiba became its first president. In 1987, Zain Al-AbdinBen Ali was elected president and remained in power until the recent revolution in 2011.

Bardo National Museum is the most important museum in the country, founded in 1888 as the second museum in Africa after the Egyptian Museum. It holds a major collection of Roman mosaics and other antiquities of interest from Prehistoric,Phoenician-Punic, and the Islamic periods. The official website of the Museum is onlyavailable in the French language.18

The official Website of the Ministry of Culture and Heritage Preservation is at themoment under review (Ministry of Culture – Tunisia).

PALESTINE

In 1947, after the Second World War, the British Government announced its desire toterminate the Mandate, and the United Nations General Assembly voted for partitionof the territory into a Jewish state and an Arab state.


16 Although the National Museums of Damascus and Aleppo are not in harmony with neighboring build-ings, they are completely representative of the local passant culture. On the contrary, the building of theEgyptian Museum is a mix of European architecture and Egyptian spirit.

17 After French egyptologists decoded hieroglyphic writing and published the monumental Description del’Égypte, there was an Anglo-French agreement in 1904 stating that the British would be in charge ofpolicies in Egypt and the French would take care of cultural prerogatives (Mahmoud 2012).

18 This was still true when I presented my paper at the 8th ICAANE (April 2012). At the moment, there isa new official site for the Museum, and it is in three versions: Arabic, English and French (The NationalBardo Museum 2012).

We know there are small archeological and heritage museums at Bethlehem, Jerichoand Ramallah, but there are no websites for these museums. The museum in Jerusalemis considered to be the National Museum of Palestine, but it is not under Palestinian authority. A simple website for this museum exists without any explanation of its collections or visiting hours, only giving some information about the history of the building, and the origin and history of the name: originally founded under the name‘Palestine Archaeological Museum’, it is now known as the ‘Rockfeller Museum’.

The Palestine Archaeological Museum was built on the site belonging to Karm el-Sheikh Muhammad Al-Khalili, the Mufti of Jerusalem, with a donation by the American philanthropist, John David Rockefeller, and designed by the chief architectof the Mandatory Department of Public Works, Austen St. Barbe Harrison. The museum opened on 13th January 1938 (West Meets East 1995).19 In the Arabic versionof the official site of the museum, it is stated: ‘on 19 June 1930 , the cornerstone of the (Palestinian Archaeological Museum) was laid and this is the official name’.

In the Hebrew version, we read: ‘the cornerstone of the museum (whose officialname is ‘Eretz Israel Archaeological Museum’) was laid on 19 June 1930’.

CONCLUSION

We might assert that the majority of Arab museums do not suitably exploit the possi-bilities of the internet. At the moment, we can only register ambitious projects, suchas the Syrian aim of designing a database listing all the artifacts in Syrian museums thatcan be easily examined by scholars.

Exceptions do exist as, for example, the National Museum of Saudi Arabia, theIraq Museum and the Bardo Museum in Tunisia, which all offer a virtual visit as wellas practical information.20

In addition, according to their main cultural purposes, museums represent the na-tional identity of the country, which should be supported by a consequent strong effortby the state. Thus, every country presents the periods and culture according to its po-litical views. In Saudi Arabia, more than one hall focuses especially on the unificationof the Arab peninsula and the various kingdoms of Al Saud. Similarly, in the UnitedArab Emirates, the National Museum bears the name of Zayed, who is considered thefounder of the state and the first president. However, we should also not forget thegeneral policy of the state to become the main place for world meetings, thus de-creasing the emphasis on local identity in favor of a mixed world culture, representedby the Louvre and Guggenheim Museum as points of interaction of world culture.


19 West Meets East is the name of the website in the English version, although it is the official site of thePalestine Archeological Museum, while in the Arabic and Hebrew versions it has the name ‘The Spiritof Place and Time’.

20 As already stated (see fn. 17), the previous website of the Bardo Museum is no longer working, so thevirtual visit of the Museum is not visible at the moment.

In Egypt, the importance of ancient Egyptian culture is largely acknowledged byboth the Egyptian society and the rest of the world. However, after the recent changesstill going on in the country, we cannot forward any hypotheses concerning the futurenature and role of the museum. The website of the museum is now temporarily closed.

In Tunisia, although it was the centre of various famous states in Islamic history,such as the Aghlabids (AD 800-900), the Fatimids Caliphate for the first sixty-fouryears (from 909 to 973), and then the strong Sanhadja dynasty (from 973 to 1152), themost important museum in Tunisia focuses on pre-Islamic heritage.

Iraq, after US intervention and the fall of Saddam, is now reforming its nationalidentity; its vast history and culture heritage are part of this reform.

In Syria, where the first Academy of Arabic Language in the Arab World wasfounded in 1919, we can recognize the emphasis on a strong Arab identity, clearlyshown by the façade of the Museum of Damascus, which uses the decorations of theOmayyad Palace, the first Arab-Muslim State of which Damascus was the capital. Atthe same time, colonialism is strongly refuted, thus such statements appear as on thewebsite of the Museum of Aleppo: ‘our museum is Syrian, it differs from other muse-ums which collect and display artifacts of other countries’.

Finally, we can observe that every national museum is oriented to those cultural pe-riods that the West usually interpreted as the most important, characteristic and dis-tinguishing for the country: Mesopotamian culture in Iraq, ancient Egyptian culture inEgypt, Punic culture in Tunisia. A different situation can be observed in Syria whichrecently acknowledged the importance of ancient Syrian cultures such as Ebla.

Considering the recent movements in the Arab world, I think we have to wait fora complete analysis of these issues and for the results of future cultural productions.

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the image of arab museums. some consideration about the presentation of arab museums in internet...

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