SCTA commends order to free land for museums

Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquity (SCTA) President Prince Sultan bin Salman thanked Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs Prince Mansour bin Miteb for ordering provincial municipalities to allocate suitable locations for private museums in their respective regions.Prince Sultan also thanked Prince Mansour for the cooperation provided by the ministry to the commission.The order to lease land to museum owners to build museums is in response to the recommendations of a forum of private museums organized by the SCTA  last year in Riyadh, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Friday.Recently, a pre-Islamic era fort and foundations of two mosques were discovered by a SCTA team during an exploration at the historical town of Jursh in Asir province. The SCTA hopes to turn this site into a tourist spot, with the establishment of a museum too.The mountainous Asir region also hides some absolute gems for the inquiring visitor. One of them is the unlikeliest museum you will come across in a long day, the Qasr Al Maqar. It perches on the edge of a precipice in the Al-Namas district, a surreal building in a magnificent setting.The archaeological museum in Baha houses artifacts that tell stories that go back thousands of years. Some of the showcased artifacts and historical objects date back to the Stone Age. Some of them are 10,000 years old while some other pieces of antiquity are believed to be dated around 3500 BC. The museum also houses a mushaf copy dating back to 1864 donated by Crown Prince Naif, deputy premier and interior minister.An Ottoman ship that was drowned in the Red Sea port of Qunfudah more than 100 years ago has finally been pulled out, recently. The 60-meter long ship, according to Saudi historian Ghazi bin Ahmad Al-Fakieh, was sunk in 1909. The historian called for preserving the ship and its content in a special museum to be built in Qunfudah to attract tourists.