Another country, Another museum. So, I am in another country for a first time and like every country I've visited, the first place to go is to the national museum and oddly, it has never disappointed me.
Since I was with a couple of friends, I've to squeeze the visit with a bunch of other places in the country and will write a separate post on that. The idea is to spend a couple of hours in the museum in the afternoon and given that the museum is relatively small, it was enough though.
Bahrain is an interesting country - it just breaks the molds of definition in some ways and for a small country, the place packs a lot of punch in terms of the variety it offers. So when I read a little about the country, I was surprised to see this little island's history stretching back to 4000 years, So, that makes the visit to the museum interesting.
The primary reason the visit fascinated me was the Dilmun mounds and the Dilmun culture. It is a wonder that an island of such small size has been continuously inhabited for the past 4000+ years. The Dilmun culture is contemporary to Indus valley civilization and astonishingly, have traded with the IVC as well. Seeing a Harappan seal in a Bahrain museum is surprise enough, but knowing that the seal was there because it was found as part of a civilization which traded with them.
There is a reason these things not just brings the kid inside but also opens one's eyes as to the enormity of life and time itself. We are but a speck in this timeline and it puts a perspective on the fights we do and the silly ways our sense of propriety works - we are but conditioned creatures of our times.
Back to the Dilmun, we drove past the A'ali mounds in the morning and unfortunately, we didn't had the time to stop. So have to do that another time. However, the mounds are recreated in the museum with a lot of detailing on the excavations carried out and the museum also displays a lot of the artifacts from the burial mounds.
The Dilmuns were in Bahrain for about 1500 years and declined as the Sassanians took power in Mesopatomia and though not part of the empire, they had regular communication with the empire and the display of the communications on the Dilmuns gives a rare perspective into life as it existed 2500 years back.
The Greeks refer to the island as Tylos and had a good idea of the geography of the place and its significance in the silk road and the communication with India. That period is when Tylos rises in pearl trade and goes on to play an important role in the area.
As Islam conquered Arabia, it landed in Bahrain as well. The Islamic culture established roots and the next part of the museum (and the history of the island) looks into the influence of Islam in the transformation of the island to what it is today. However, there seems to be a lack of information on what really happened during this period and the colonial influence during the past 200 years and how Bahrain came to become an independant country. For some reason either this is not depicted clearly or I missed some part of the museum.
The other building which was looking gorgeous in the evening sun was hosting an art exhibition, While there are some which I liked, I was tired by this time and was ready to sit and enjoy the sea breeze and the amazing space the museum has created.
Overall, a must-see place in Bahrain whatever the amount of time you have.. still waiting to see the big one in the area..
Since I was with a couple of friends, I've to squeeze the visit with a bunch of other places in the country and will write a separate post on that. The idea is to spend a couple of hours in the museum in the afternoon and given that the museum is relatively small, it was enough though.
Bahrain is an interesting country - it just breaks the molds of definition in some ways and for a small country, the place packs a lot of punch in terms of the variety it offers. So when I read a little about the country, I was surprised to see this little island's history stretching back to 4000 years, So, that makes the visit to the museum interesting.
The primary reason the visit fascinated me was the Dilmun mounds and the Dilmun culture. It is a wonder that an island of such small size has been continuously inhabited for the past 4000+ years. The Dilmun culture is contemporary to Indus valley civilization and astonishingly, have traded with the IVC as well. Seeing a Harappan seal in a Bahrain museum is surprise enough, but knowing that the seal was there because it was found as part of a civilization which traded with them. |
| Seal 8 is IVC |
Back to the Dilmun, we drove past the A'ali mounds in the morning and unfortunately, we didn't had the time to stop. So have to do that another time. However, the mounds are recreated in the museum with a lot of detailing on the excavations carried out and the museum also displays a lot of the artifacts from the burial mounds.
The Dilmuns were in Bahrain for about 1500 years and declined as the Sassanians took power in Mesopatomia and though not part of the empire, they had regular communication with the empire and the display of the communications on the Dilmuns gives a rare perspective into life as it existed 2500 years back.
As Islam conquered Arabia, it landed in Bahrain as well. The Islamic culture established roots and the next part of the museum (and the history of the island) looks into the influence of Islam in the transformation of the island to what it is today. However, there seems to be a lack of information on what really happened during this period and the colonial influence during the past 200 years and how Bahrain came to become an independant country. For some reason either this is not depicted clearly or I missed some part of the museum.
The other building which was looking gorgeous in the evening sun was hosting an art exhibition, While there are some which I liked, I was tired by this time and was ready to sit and enjoy the sea breeze and the amazing space the museum has created.
Overall, a must-see place in Bahrain whatever the amount of time you have.. still waiting to see the big one in the area..
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