Cairo: A Saudi man has collected around 250,000 artefacts dating back to different eras and watershed events over more than five decades and has put them on display at a museum.
The collector, Maher Al Ghanem, told Saudi TV Al Ekhbariya that he and a co-curator had collected the rare items over 55 years, and it took them seven years to prepare the museum and meet the official criteria for setting up museums in the kingdom.
Located in Al Qatif in eastern Saudi Arabia, the museum houses pieces, which date back to thousands of years as well as weapons wielded in epoch-making wars, according to the report.
“We have many items including a World War I gun, some pottery utensils which are thousands of years old and precious stones,” Al Ghanem said.
He added that the facility boasts an 8-metre-long copy of Quran as well as a miniature of the sacred text.
The museum also displays the first TV set introduced into Saudi Arabia in the 1950s when Saudi oil giant Aramco started operations. An image of the TV housed in the company is seen.
Other interesting items on show include radios manufactured in the 1930s and 1940s, added Al Ghanem, who recalled that owning a radio in the past required a government licence. He displayed, a copy of this licence.
In addition, the museum displays items from the Gulf War including shells, bullets and soldiers’ dried food as well as helmets from the World War I and II.
