Museums evoke a host of associations, primary among them being about man-made spaces that impart ideas and knowledge through artefacts representing heritage, culture and endeavour.
However, all over the world, museums are now moving away from being overwhelmingly variegated, passive spectacles and are re-interpreting the way they present knowledge to visitors.
The attempt is to make museums as much spaces of direct communication and interactivity as places of documentation and preservation.
Bait Al Zubair, or House of Zubair, is one of Muscat’s leading museums showcasing Omani heritage. It displays the Al Zubair family’s private collection of artefacts that range from khanjars to costumes and jewellery to prints.
The museum comprises three sections — the Bait Al Bagh, or House of Garden, the Bait Al Dalaleel, where Dalaleel refers to the neighbourhood in which Bait Al Zubair is located, and the newly opened Bait Al Oud, or The Grand House.
A fourth section is under construction. Built in 1914 by Shaikh Al Zubair Bin Ali, the Bait Al Zubair was opened as a museum in 1998 by Bin Ali’s son, Mohammad Al Zubair, who is the Economic Affairs Adviser to Sultan Qaboos Bin Said.
Apart from housing what is considered to be one of the finest private collections anywhere, the Bait Al Zubair has significantly redefined the museum experience for visitors by employing innovative features.
In the museum’s gardens, one can see recreations of Omani architecture and culture such as a falaj (irrigation channel indigenous to Oman), a coastal barasti dwelling, a shop in a souk, a fishing village complete with beach sand, boats and brightly coloured wooden doors, and a restored townhouse, the Bait Al Dalaleel, which allow visitors to experience Omani culture at various levels.
The Bait Al Zubair provides visitors — new and those familiar with Oman — with a thoroughly researched and curated cultural experience; it seeks to extend these ambitions further with its latest wing, the Bait Al Oud.
Rare glimpses of grandeur
The new gallery was opened on March 26 this year on the occasion of the tenth anniversary celebrations of Bait Al Zubair.
Apart from a large temporary exhibition hall that has already hosted several exhibitions, the Bait Al Oud’s new galleries on the first floor include early maps, charts, models of boats and navigational equipment, and typical “Muscati” furniture.
The galleries on the second floor display rare images including early prints of the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa, and early photographs of Muscat and key people in Oman’s history.
Sarah White, arts adviser and manager, Bait Al Zubair Foundation LLC, and her team have been actively involved in the supervision and execution of this new wing over the past few years.
“A museum is a storehouse of knowledge, and a modern museum must demonstrate a social relevance and use,” she said, adding that a museum should be a permanent institution in the service of society and its development.
“Thanks to the leadership of His Excellency Mohammad Al Zubair and family, the museum team is encouraged to promote positive change, and initiate cultural exchange and dialogue.
"We are constantly working on new projects and exhibitions, following [the Al Zubair family’s] mission to promote, preserve and present Oman’s rich cultural heritage as well as establishing it as an exciting destination,” White said.
The collections at the Bait Al Oud had never been exhibited earlier. Prior to being exhibited, the collections were documented and researched, and the team formulated a concept for interpretation.
“His Excellency Mohammad Al Zubair and Ms Suhailah M Al Zubair were very much involved [in] all stages and this collective effort has received much praise. We had several brainstorming sessions to ensure ... the best results,” White said, describing the ideation and execution process.
For over ten years, local and international museums were studied in-depth to understand what visitors wanted and how to ensure quality care and service, she added.
The Bait Al Oud building, which showcases facets of Omani heritage, does not function merely as a shell that displays various things; it demands instead to be engaged with as a cultural entity in its own right.
The Bait Al Oud was inspired, White said, by the grand houses of Muscat with high, vaulted ceilings, internal courtyards and stained glass windows.
“It was designed to reflect a residence bearing the same name that was the birthplace of Shaikh Ali Bin Jumah, a senior trader in the country and close adviser to Sultan Thuwayni Bin Said and Sultan Turki Bin Said in Oman, and Sultan Bargash Bin Said and Sultan Majid Bin Said, rulers of Zanzibar,” White said.
The original residence was located within the walls of Muscat, just behind the Bab Al Kabir (Muscat’s main gateway).
It was, however, demolished in the 1940s to provide more space for vehicles to access the royal palace.
The Bait Al Oud pays homage to its predecessor as well as the buildings of that era. Further, old, restored pieces of furniture (such as mandoos), doors, windows and mirror frames that dot the hallways, function as fascinating visual experiences.
While visitors can enjoy these visual experiences, the new wing aims to also provide a nuanced understanding of Oman’s various cultural and historical contexts through carefully presented information that accompanies the items on display.
“We are always conscious of our audience and want to make it easy for them to assimilate knowledge through our collections; in the map room, [for instance,] we [have provided some historical information] on map-makers and the importance of maps,” White said.
Similarly, in the prints room, there are various types of prints with their depictions and representations of Muscat.
These indicate a multitude of perspectives and sources over the centuries: Some of the examples include the Omani Family (c 1870 AD), Omani Shaikh (c 1860 AD) and Male Dress in Muscat (c 1860) that have been printed in Britain, France and Germany.
“We felt it was important to provide information not just about dates of the images but the technical aspects of how they were produced [so as to educate visitors on various print-making techniques],” White said.
In the old photographs gallery, too, visitors are provided information on development of the technology over time.
The gallery has cameras from the 19th and 20th centuries on display. The insights into the progress of technology make the visitor aware of the rapid transition from prints to photographs, and the many developments in photography itself.
One of the most popular galleries has furniture on display. The majority of furniture in this collection, carefully preserved, belonged to the late Shaikh Al Zubair Bin Ali.
“The collection represents the cosmopolitan lifestyle and sophistication of typical Muscat residences from the 18th to 20th century,” White said, adding that this may be the only collection of the period available, as the majority of them were destroyed or lost.
The collection provides valuable insights into the cultural influences of those times that had an impact on the way Muscat’s elite lived.
“It was common for Muscat residences to feature imported furniture and porcelain. The furniture often came from England, bound for markets in India. [From India] it was often re-exported or copied by the local artisans and sold in the markets of Muscat,” White said.
The historical, sociological and cultural significance of the furniture collection notwithstanding, what is equally significant is the meticulous attention paid to the manner in which the furniture has been arranged in the display — be it the embroidered bedroom slippers under a canopied four-poster bed, the half-open cupboards revealing iridescently hued garments or the immaculately laid out tea-table.
The overall effect on the viewer in this carefully cultivated space is akin to what one experiences in a theatre while anticipating the arrival of actors.
The black-and-white photographs featuring the very same furniture in the display vivifies the past, easily allowing the viewer to imagine the furniture as it was in use, rather than a seemingly inanimate object.
“Furniture relates to everyone at every level — made for humans by humans; people have described our furniture displays in all the three sections of the museums as ‘time capsules’. They make the past a reality,” White said, dwelling upon the reasons for the section’s popularity among visitors.
“Furniture expresses many things such as culture and status; people are always interested in other people and how they live — be it in the past, present or the future,” she said.
Such displays function as a window to the past, creating a feeling of a great affinity with the visitors. An Omani remarked after visiting the gallery that he was amazed to find that the museum was able to obtain and display furniture that brought back fond memories of his childhood.
Viewers visiting the old-photographs section also feel nostalgic; it has early black-and-white photographs of Muscat taken over a 100-year period from the mid- to late-1800s to the mid- to late-1900s.
The display also includes images of key figures in the history of Oman — progressing through the reign of Sultan Faisal Bin Turki to Sultan Said Bin Taimur.
The range of photographs is as varied as the hues of images themselves, which graduate from black-and-white to sepia to grainy colour.
“Modern Omanis are fascinated by these photographs and spend time seeing the who’s who [of the past] with a great sense of nostalgia and pride,” White said.
Apart from obvious symbolic and nationalist significance of the images for the Omanis, the section also demonstrates the power of photography to effectively transport its viewer to bygone eras.
One image — of a man dressed in a blazer, hat and dishdasha — stands out for its clear depiction of the cosmopolitan influences in the ways of dressing, similar to the influences evident in the furniture display.
“We need to understand the past to understand the future,” White said.
“But as fashions change and technology advances, the past is forgotten. These images therefore reveal a lot more than the people and the places; they display the sophistication and tradition of that past which has helped [shape the present].”
The new wing has been received favourably by Omanis as can be witnessed by the rush of visitors, including long-time residents as well as tourists.
“Many people have called to congratulate us on our new wing, the exhibits, the interpretation and the building itself,” White said.
An Omani woman said she felt she had taken a voyage back in time — indicating the nature of her personal engagement with the museum.
Some European guests remarked that the displays were world-class: The travellers’ quotes and historical information brought the exhibits to life.
Kudos from the fraternity
The museum fraternity was all praise for the Bait Al Oud.
Invitees of the British Council for a museum management seminar and a team of museum professionals from the United Kingdom — including those from University of London Museums and the British Museum — who visited Bait Al Oud prior to its official opening, were impressed by the quality of the exhibits and the way in which these were interpreted, White said.
Well-known Muscati educationist and writer, Dr Patricia Groves wrote: “What sets [the] Bait Al Zubair and its new wing apart is not only its objects of historical interest but also the curatorial quality of the exhibition.
"The Bait Al Oud exhibits have been designed not just to inform but to communicate with a range of viewers.”
Many museums are working towards reinventing themselves as spaces where visitors are encouraged to actively participate in the learning process and Bait Al Oud certainly invites the visitors to do that, providing them [with material for thought] while they are at the museum and even after they have left.
