Aqaba, Jordan
national museum
The Aqaba Archaeological Museum occupies the house of Sharif Hussein bin Ali, leader of the Great Arab Revolt, built in 1917 in the historic quarter of Aqaba against the Mamluk castle and near the flagpole. The museum was established in 1989 and officially opened on 1 January 1990, and it is the city's official museum, telling Aqaba's story from its earliest ages to the Islamic period. The displays begin with Bronze Age finds from Tall Hujayrat al-Ghuzlan (about 4000 BC), showing that Aqaba was a copper-producing centre thousands of years ago, pass through the Nabataean and Roman periods, and reach the Islamic city of Ayla, founded in the first years of Islam as the port of the Hijaz and Syria. Among the finest pieces is a large Kufic inscription of a verse from the Qur'an that hung above Ayla's eastern gate in the 9th century, alongside Fatimid and North African coins, ceramics and the everyday objects of a working port. The house itself, with its rooms, courtyard and arcades, rounds out the picture of Aqaba at the start of the 20th century.
Half an hour to an hour is enough for the museum; make it one walk with the Mamluk castle and the flagpole square along the corniche in the morning or before sunset. Travel guides put the ticket at about 1–2 JOD, included in the Jordan Pass, so check at the door. The museum is small and indoors, a good choice for children in Aqaba's heat, and the Sharif Hussein bin Ali Mosque and the fish restaurants of the corniche are close by.
Hours and prices change — check before you go. Source: en.wikipedia.org
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