Hi, welcome back.
I'm here at the National Museum of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh.
The National Museum here is a major historic museum in Saudi Arabia.
It was established in 1999
as part of the King Abdulaziz historical center
here in Riyadh.
It has a huge collection
that spans the entire history of the kingdom.
I'm looking forward to learning more about Saudi culture.
Let's check it out.
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When you arrive here it's stunning to see
That it's fairly empty.
Granted, this is not a weekend day
And it's already evening here.
But the place looks quite deserted.
I'd be curious to know when this place is a little bit more busy.
The opening hours of the museum are
in the mornings from 8 to the afternoon 3 o'clock.
And then they have a break from 3 to 4pm
and it opens again from 4pm
and it closes at 8:00 p.m. in the evening.
The entrance fee of the museum is 10 Saudi Riyal.
That's about 2 dollars and 70 cents.
Not too bad. Let's check it out!
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The museum houses several exhibitions.
The first one is "Man and the Universe".
You can also check out "The Arabian Kingdoms"
which is a gallery that illustrates the early kingdoms
and the exhibition continues
with "Intermediate Arab Kingdoms"
and showcases cities of Al-Hamra
Dawmat Al-Jandal, Tima'a and Tarout.
And also the later kingdom,
representing the civilizations that thrived
in Al-Aflaaj, Najran and Ain Zubaida.
There's another exhibition
that showcases the pre-islamic era.
This gallery is dedicated to the time
From about 400 BC until the dawn of Islam.
The cities that are important of this time
include Makkah and Jarash and Yathrib.
There's another exhibition that showcases
the life and mission of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w)
It shows quite some details of Muhammad's family
and relations at the time.
From that exhibition you can take a bridge
This bridge connects to another gallery
where you find information about Islam
and the Arabian Peninsula.
That includes the time of the Islamic beginnings in Medina
and the history of the rise and fall of the Caliphate.
In this exhibition,
you also find some illustrations
of the time of the Mamluks and Ottomans, up to the first Saudi state.
Another exhibition shows the 1. and 2. Saudi States.
There, you can explore the cultural history
of the two early Saudi States.
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I'm now in the entrance hall of the exhibition
of Prophet Mohammed (s.a.w)
You really get a very nice feel of the history
of early Islam and a life of the Prophet
and his journey from Mecca to Medina.
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I'm now going over the bridge to the other building.
I understand this bridge symbolizes the migration (from Mecca to Medina).
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What's really striking here
is the beautiful architecture
It's this combination of modern architecture
and the historic artifacts
that's really cool to see.
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This museum is really doing a remarkable job
at documenting the life of the early Muslim community.
You see how they lived
and you get a feel by looking at all the artifacts
and the houses which were reconstructed here.
It's very well done.
The oldest Islamic inscriptions that are at display here
are from Zuhair
and they date back to the year 644.
That's only the 24th year of the Islamic calendar.
These are very very early inscriptions.
That's really interesting to see.
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I'm now entering the exhibition of the 1. Saudi state
It was established in 1726
when Imam Muhammad bin Saud assumed the rulership of Al-Diriyah.
You can see here some models and images of Al-Diriyah
as you can see it today.
As you can see on the map behind me
Al-Diriyah is actually very close to today's Riyadh.
So we are really close to the birthplace
of the modern Saudi nation.
This is also very cool.
Behind me you see a model of the historic city of Riyadh as of 1918.
It used to be quite a small city compared to today.
It's changed quite a bit
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I'm now entering the exhibition that
displays the unification of the kingdom.
That happened in 1902
when Abdulaziz and a handful of his men made daring assault
on Masmak fortress which is also here in Riyadh.
This attack was successful
and marked the beginning of the Saudi nation as we know it today.
Masmak fortress is not far from here.
You can actually almost walk there.
It's about a 20 - 25 minute walk.
I'm now on the ground floor of the second building.
This exhibition is dedicated to the two holy cities of Islam.
Mecca and Medina.
You see a fantastic gigantic model behind me
It shows the area of Mecca
and the Haram Mosque.
I can only say it again:
This museum is really well done
There are lots of exhibits and artifacts.
This is just really cool!
This is a gigantic model of the Holy Mosque in Mecca.
The model includes the new additions.
It's currently under construction.
When you're in Mecca
you actually don't see the entire building yet.
But this model depicts what it's going to look like
when it's done. Very impressive.
This model shows the massive expansions
of the Haram Mosque in Mecca.
It's already quite large today
but after the most recent expansion
it will probably be tripling if not quadrupling in size
This is huge!
This whole building is going to be gigantic
And so is this model.
I estimate it to be about 5 by 5 meters.
Very impressive.
Here is another cool thing behind me.
One of the curtains of the Kaaba
It's also nice to see the dimensions of the Kaaba
just on this wall.
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Here is another very impressive model.
It's the Masjid An Nabawi,
the Prophet's Mosque (s.a.w).
That model gives also a really good idea
of the second largest mosque in the world.
The model shows the mosque
after the recent expansion.
Those little flower petals here are actually gigantic umbrellas
They provide some shade against the heat of the Medina sun
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This concludes my visit here of the National Museum.
It did not disappoint!
It's an amazing museum.
I can only recommend you to come here
and get a really good idea of this country,
its history from the very early days of mankind
to the modern state of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
I think this is a must-see.
It gives you a really good introduction
into the country
and it provides you with a strong background.
It's very well put together.
The displays are amazing. I love the architecture.
It is modern, very clean, and as a nice side effect,
you also can enjoy the air-conditioned temperatures here
It's refreshing
when it's very hot outside.
As you can see, it's gotten dark outside.
It's evening now and I'm going to grab some nice charwarma.
See you soon
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Tell me about your favorite spots here in Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia.
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I see you soon in the next video. Bye!
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