Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Makkah Museum (Mat7af al Haramain) - Part 1


During the month of Ramadhaan I was commuting on a weekly basis to Makkah to spend time with my family who were in the Kingdom for a six week vacation.Whilst in Makkah I arranged for my family to visit the Makkah museum. It was a truly fascinating experience and of course a very educational one as well.
Usually in Ramadhaan the museum is closed to the public unless prior arrangements have been made by your travel agent. The museum prefers to accept groups of pilgrims who have booked to visit the museum in advance. Since I reside in Riyadh, I asked one of my Saudi friends to seek permission for my family and I to visit.The administration staff at the museum were very kind and accommodating and allowed us to come by whenever it suited us. Whilst viewing all the artifacts in the museum, qualified and knowledgeable staff were on hand to provide us with detailed history and information. If you wish to visit the museum kindly call the Makkah museum ( Mat7af al Haramain) at  00966 (0)2 5602188. It is a museum that I highly recommend for all children to visit in order to gain a better perspective with regards to the history of the Haram in Makkah and Medina.The museum is situated approximately 20 minutes away from the Haram area on the old Jeddah road.



A teak staircase of the holy Ka3ba dating back to 1240H
Ash Shumaisi moldings which used to be above one of the entrances of the Holy Mosque

A slab of Ash-Shumaisi stone on which is engraved the name of the ameluke sultan Qayitbay who died in 901 H

The brassy head of the pulpit made in the era of sultan sulaiman alqanoony on the tenth century of alhijra

A brass crescent belonging to one of the minarets of the Holy Mosque dating back to 1299 H




Four inscriptions on two stone pillars recording the reconstruction of the Muqam (stance) during the reign of the Amluki sultan al ashraf abu an nasr linal in 858 and sultan ganosh al ghori in 915.

Wall plaques found in the Haram with Allah, Muhammed and the names of the four khalifa (Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthmaan and Ali)

The gold plated gutter of the Ka3ba