The “Saudi Archaeological Masterpieces through the Ages” exhibition is one of the most important international Saudi displays The exhibition displayed a large number of artifacts of exceptional value for the first time outside Saudi Arabia Updated 23 sec ago Mohammed Al-Sulami July 02, 2018 01:41 57 TAIF: The Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) is setting up a virtual museum to host the “Saudi Archaeological Masterpieces through the Ages” exhibition displaying the Kingdom’s artifacts. The step was made following the directives of SCTH President Prince Sultan bin Salman, who is keen to employ advanced technology to serve and improve tourism and national heritage. The artifacts will be displayed at the virtual museum and through downloading its application from the online store. They were also made available on Snapchat as filters that can be used when taking photos and recording videos. These efforts are made by the General Directorate of Information Technology of SCTH. The directorate won several local and international awards, the most recent of which was the e-Leadership award, in which it achieved the first place in the e-Government Program. The “Saudi Archaeological Masterpieces through the Ages” exhibition is one of the most important international Saudi displays. It captured the Kingdom’s cultural heritage in several European countries, the US, and, most recently, in the capital of China, Beijing — the exhibition’s first stop in Asia. The importance of the exhibition lies in the rich Saudi heritage, the artifacts it houses, and the civilizations that inhabited its lands in the past. However, these archaeological treasures are largely unknown in many countries, which is why it was necessary to introduce the world to the Kingdom’s heritage and its role in Islamic civilization. The exhibition’s idea was introduced in 2006, following the directives of the late King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz and on the suggestion of former French president Jacques Chirac during the opening ceremony of the “Masterpieces of Islamic Art” exhibition, which was organized by SCTH at the National Museum in Riyadh in 2006. The exhibition displayed a large number of artifacts of exceptional value for the first time outside Saudi Arabia, which shed light on the country’s Islamic status and global presence as well as its economic role and impact on human relations given its strategic location between the East and West. The exhibition featured 400 rare artifacts from the Stone Age, pre-Islamic eras, the early, intermediate, and late Arab kingdoms, the Islamic era, the intermediate Islamic era, and the emergence of the Saudi state in its three stages to the era of the late King Abdul Aziz. Since its launch in 2010, the exhibition was held in 10 European, American, and Asian countries, in addition to being held at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in Dhahran. The first exhibition of the Kingdom’s masterpieces was first held at the Louvre Museum in the French capital Paris in 2010, then at La Caixa Foundation in Barcelona, Hermitage Museum in Russia, the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, the Sackler Museum in Washington, the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, Complesso del Vittoriano in Rome, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, California, and the National Museum in Beijing.