Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Minister of Culture Prince Badr Bin Abdullah Bin Farhan and Italian Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities Dario Franceschini will inaugurate on Tuesday, Nov. 26, the “Roads of Arabia” Exhibition at the National Roman Museum in Rome.

The Ministry of Culture is organizing the exhibition, in cooperation with the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities.

The exhibition titled “Roads of Arabia Masterpieces of Antiquities in Saudi Arabia Across the Ages” will be held in Rome for three months under the auspices of Saudi Aramco, in a new international station, during which the exhibition will continue to present the rich cultural heritage of Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula.

The exhibition is one of the most important international Saudi exhibitions that has already offered the civil heritage of the Kingdom and the Arabian Peninsula for more than five million visitors as part of the most prominent and prestigious international museums in European, American and Asian capitals and cities.

During the past nine years, specifically since July 13, 2010, the exhibition, has toured 16 international destinations, including European, US and Asian stations, in addition to two domestic stations in King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture in Dhahran and the National Museum in Riyadh.

It’s first station was the Louvre Museum in Paris in July 2010, followed by la Caixa Foundation in Barcelona, Spain, then the Hermitage Museum in Petersburg, in Russia, and Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany.

It was also held at Sakler Museum in Washington DC, followed by Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh, then the Fine Art Museum in Huston, Texas, followed by the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, and at Asian Arts Museum in San Francisco.

The exhibition was also held at the National Museum in Beijing, the National Museum in Seoul, the National Museum in Riyadh, the National Museum in Tokyo and at the Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum in the UAE.

Featuring important archaeological relics illustrating the depth of the Arab civilization and its history of more than one million years, the exhibition features archaeological pieces selected from the National Museum in Riyadh, the King Saud University Museum, among others.

The relics cover the prehistoric and pre-Islamic times, the early, middle, and late Arabian kingdoms and civilizations, and the Islamic period, until the establishment of the Saudi state with its three development phases until reaching the reign of King Abdulaziz.