The Saudi National Museum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

I enjoyed the Saudi National Museum (المتحف الوطني السعودي) in Riyadh [1] so much that I walked the two-story circuit several times, each time focusing on a different aspect. I was particularly interested in rock inscriptions, the development of Arabic script, and early astronomy. I can only offer a brief overview of these topics here.

The Saudi National Museum in Riyadh is a cultural history museum and part of the King Abdulaziz History Centre. It was completed in 1999 after 26 months of construction. The museum's website [2] provides information about its architecture. The architect, Raymond Moriyama, was particularly inspired by traditional Najdi architecture and the contours of the red sand dunes. “At sunset, they radiate shades of red, gradually fading as night falls, thus reinforcing the spirit of Riyadh and evoking its beginning commemoration.”

The museum showcases local and geological history. Among the exhibits are the large fragment of the meteorite that created the Wabar Crater, the skeletons of Platybelodon and an ichthyosaur, works of art, dioramas, stelae, manuscripts, the history of Arabic script, ceramics, celestial globes, early astronomical instruments, and much more. The 14 pre-Islamic kingdoms are also represented. Visitors can learn and enjoy a symbiosis of exhibits and educational information.

For the celestial globes, the astrolabs and other instruments, there is an very good and therefore also long article on Wikipedia [3]. Especially the influences of mainly but not exclusively Indian or Persian astronomy would take too much space on a blog like mine; besides it would not have come out of my knowledge or research, though i had been interested in stronomy since childhood as i even considered once to study astronomy.

The inscription of Raqush bint Abd-Manat, dating from 267 AD, was discovered in northwestern Saudi Arabia near Madain Saleh [4]. The text contains elements of Arabic in a late form of the Nabataean script. Around 900 BCE, the Aramaic script developed from the Phoenician script, later the Nabataean script from the West Aramaic form, and then the Arabic script from two forms of the Nabataean script (a monumental script for inscriptions and a more cursive script for papyrus) [5]. Various forms developed from these early scripts, some for calligraphy, others for cursive writing, and still others for block capitals (Kufic). Arabic, like other Semitic languages, is mostly written without vocalizations, meaning that interpretation is required when reading. There are two exceptions: the Holy Qur'an and children's books. Before you laugh, there are understandable reasons for this. The Qur'an must not be open to interpretation, and children cannot yet know the correct form. As an example, let's take the city of Jeddah. When it's written (جدّة), even someone unfamiliar with the city can understand that it's pronounced with two Ds. However, if Jeddah is written without the diacritic mark, i.e., (جدة), then the city's name could also be pronounced Jedah. 

I went a little off the topic, but then I took another stroll through this beautiful museum. Of course, it's highly recommended!

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalmuseum_von_Saudi-Arabien and 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_Saudi_Arabia 
[2] https://engage.moc.gov.sa/national_museum/about-museum/ 
[3] Astronomy in the medieval Islamic world
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomy_in_the_medieval_Islamic_world 
[4] https://en.majalla.com/node/294381/culture-social-affairs/saudi-discoveries-are-rewriting-history-arabic-script 
[5] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geschichte_der_arabischen_Schrift and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Arabic_alphabet (contents not identical!)

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