National Museum of Sudan
Encyclopedia
The National Museum of Sudan, founded in 1971, is the national museum
of Sudan
, located on El Neel Avenue in Khartoum
. The double storied building was constructed in the 1955, and established as the National Museum of Sudan in 1971. It contains the largest and most important archaeological collection in the country.
The museum has exhibits from different epochs
of the Sudanese history
such as Kingdom of Kush and ancient Nubia, and also ancient Egypt
. Among the exhibits displayed in the gardens surrounding the museum are the two Egyptian temple
s of Buhen Temple and Semna Temple, which were originally built by Hatshepsut
and Tuthmosis III but relocated to Khartoum upon the flooding caused by Lake Nasser
.
and the Blue Nile
in Al-Mugran area. It is the largest and most visited museum in Sudan.
's Christian period. The artifacts on display are: Stone age
relics of the Al Saltan Al-Zarqa era also known as the black sultanate; Kush glassware, pottery and statuary; frescoes and murals of the Nubia’s period from the 8th to 15th century. The frescoes made in water colour are well preserved and appear bright and clear.
Apart from the exhibits inside the museum, the garden area around the museum has ruins relocated from the submergence area of the Lake Nasser
created by the Nasser Dam on the Nile River. These are ruins of two temples namely, the Buhen and Semna built by Queen Hatshepsut
and Pharaoh Thutmose III
. The Aswan High Dam built across the Nile River in Egypt created a reservoir in the Nubia area, which extended into Sudan's territory threatening submergence of two ancient temples of 1490 BC period. On an appeal made to the UNESCO
to retrieve these temples and shift them to a safer location, the temples and tombs were systematically dismantled from the submergence area and relocated in the garden surrounding the National Museum of Sudan in Khartoum.
The exhibits in the museum have been catalogued by fifty leading scholars and published as papers or books. 320 objects have been catalogued listing exhibits unearthed from archaeological excavations and finds by way of stone tools of the Paleolithic period, Pharaonic statues of Pharos and ancient Christian wall frescoes and armour
of the early Islamic period. The exhibits are of Sudanese culture of their Kerma Kings, graves of the Christian rulers, from the ostentatious temples of the Egyptian
pharaohs and also churches and mosques of subsequent periods.
and Coptic
inscriptions, produced primarily by the Christian culture of Nubia, displayed in the museum, was the scholarly contribution of Dr Adam Latjar from the Warsaw University in respect of Greek inscriptions and Dr Jacques Van der Vliet of the Leiden University
in respect of Coptic inscriptions. Their project work was funded by UNESCO, Polish Centre for Archaeology at Cairo
and the Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research (WOTRO). The Christian inscriptions contain Nubian funerary inscriptions in the form of funerary epitaphs. The source of these inscriptions are stated to be from Nubian territory in Sudan extending from Faras
in the north to Soba
in the south. The texts are inscribed on sandstone, marble or terracotta (36 inscriptions, mostly from Makouria ) plaques of generally rectangular shape.
Programme for the Preservation of Endangered Movable Cultural Properties and Museum Development. The project was implemented over a two year period from October 2003 involving conserving, cataloguing, labeling and presentation of the exhibits, creating digital records of all collections and improving security measures.
National museum
A national museum is a museum maintained by a nation.The following is a list of national museums:-Australia:*Australian National Aviation Museum*Australian National Maritime Museum*, Sydney*Australian War Memorial*Museum Victoria...
of Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
, located on El Neel Avenue in Khartoum
Khartoum
Khartoum is the capital and largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran"...
. The double storied building was constructed in the 1955, and established as the National Museum of Sudan in 1971. It contains the largest and most important archaeological collection in the country.
The museum has exhibits from different epochs
Epoch (reference date)
In the fields of chronology and periodization, an epoch is an instance in time chosen as the origin of a particular era. The "epoch" then serves as a reference point from which time is measured...
of the Sudanese history
History of Sudan
The history of Sudan extends from antiquity, and is intertwined with the history of Egypt, with which it was united politically over several periods. It is marked by influences on Sudan from neighboring areas and world powers...
such as Kingdom of Kush and ancient Nubia, and also ancient Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. Among the exhibits displayed in the gardens surrounding the museum are the two Egyptian temple
Egyptian temple
Egyptian temples were built for the official worship of the gods and commemoration of pharaohs in Ancient Egypt and in regions under Egyptian control. These temples were seen as houses for the gods or kings to whom they were dedicated...
s of Buhen Temple and Semna Temple, which were originally built by Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut also Hatchepsut; meaning Foremost of Noble Ladies;1508–1458 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Ancient Egypt...
and Tuthmosis III but relocated to Khartoum upon the flooding caused by Lake Nasser
Lake Nasser
Lake Nasser is a vast reservoir in southern Egypt, and northern Sudan, and is one of the largest man-made lakes in the world. Strictly, "Lake Nasser" refers only to the much larger portion of the lake that is in Egyptian territory , with the Sudanese preferring to call their smaller body of water...
.
Geography
The museum is located on the El Neel (Nile) Avenue in Khartoum at the junction of White NileWhite Nile
The White Nile is a river of Africa, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile from Egypt, the other being the Blue Nile. In the strict meaning, "White Nile" refers to the river formed at Lake No at the confluence of the Bahr al Jabal and Bahr el Ghazal rivers...
and the Blue Nile
Blue Nile
The Blue Nile is a river originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. With the White Nile, the river is one of the two major tributaries of the Nile...
in Al-Mugran area. It is the largest and most visited museum in Sudan.
Description
Even though the building was built in 1955, its actual occupation as a museum took place in 1971. It is a double storied building where ancient architectural antiquaries are displayed. The antiquaries displayed relate to the history of the ancient Kush kingdom and the NubiaNubia
Nubia is a region along the Nile river, which is located in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, the last of which collapsed in 1504, when Nubia became divided between Egypt and the Sennar sultanate resulting in the Arabization...
's Christian period. The artifacts on display are: Stone age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
relics of the Al Saltan Al-Zarqa era also known as the black sultanate; Kush glassware, pottery and statuary; frescoes and murals of the Nubia’s period from the 8th to 15th century. The frescoes made in water colour are well preserved and appear bright and clear.
Apart from the exhibits inside the museum, the garden area around the museum has ruins relocated from the submergence area of the Lake Nasser
Lake Nasser
Lake Nasser is a vast reservoir in southern Egypt, and northern Sudan, and is one of the largest man-made lakes in the world. Strictly, "Lake Nasser" refers only to the much larger portion of the lake that is in Egyptian territory , with the Sudanese preferring to call their smaller body of water...
created by the Nasser Dam on the Nile River. These are ruins of two temples namely, the Buhen and Semna built by Queen Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut also Hatchepsut; meaning Foremost of Noble Ladies;1508–1458 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Ancient Egypt...
and Pharaoh Thutmose III
Thutmose III
Thutmose III was the sixth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. During the first twenty-two years of Thutmose's reign he was co-regent with his stepmother, Hatshepsut, who was named the pharaoh...
. The Aswan High Dam built across the Nile River in Egypt created a reservoir in the Nubia area, which extended into Sudan's territory threatening submergence of two ancient temples of 1490 BC period. On an appeal made to the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
to retrieve these temples and shift them to a safer location, the temples and tombs were systematically dismantled from the submergence area and relocated in the garden surrounding the National Museum of Sudan in Khartoum.
The exhibits in the museum have been catalogued by fifty leading scholars and published as papers or books. 320 objects have been catalogued listing exhibits unearthed from archaeological excavations and finds by way of stone tools of the Paleolithic period, Pharaonic statues of Pharos and ancient Christian wall frescoes and armour
Armour
Armour or armor is protective covering used to prevent damage from being inflicted to an object, individual or a vehicle through use of direct contact weapons or projectiles, usually during combat, or from damage caused by a potentially dangerous environment or action...
of the early Islamic period. The exhibits are of Sudanese culture of their Kerma Kings, graves of the Christian rulers, from the ostentatious temples of the Egyptian
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
pharaohs and also churches and mosques of subsequent periods.
Inscriptions
The catalogue on GreekGreek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
and Coptic
Coptic language
Coptic or Coptic Egyptian is the current stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century. Egyptian began to be written using the Greek alphabet in the 1st century...
inscriptions, produced primarily by the Christian culture of Nubia, displayed in the museum, was the scholarly contribution of Dr Adam Latjar from the Warsaw University in respect of Greek inscriptions and Dr Jacques Van der Vliet of the Leiden University
Leiden University
Leiden University , located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close...
in respect of Coptic inscriptions. Their project work was funded by UNESCO, Polish Centre for Archaeology at Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
and the Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research (WOTRO). The Christian inscriptions contain Nubian funerary inscriptions in the form of funerary epitaphs. The source of these inscriptions are stated to be from Nubian territory in Sudan extending from Faras
Faras
Faras was a major city in Lower Nubia in modern Egypt. The site of the city was flooded by Lake Nasser in the 1960s, and is now permanently underwater...
in the north to Soba
Soba
is the Japanese name for buckwheat. It is synonymous with a type of thin noodle made from buckwheat flour, and in Japan can refer to any thin noodle . Soba noodles are served either chilled with a dipping sauce, or in hot broth as a noodle soup...
in the south. The texts are inscribed on sandstone, marble or terracotta (36 inscriptions, mostly from Makouria ) plaques of generally rectangular shape.
Renovation
The National Museum of Sudan in Khartoum and the Archaeological Museum of Jebel Barkal were substantially renovated with funds to the extent of US$ 230,000 provided by USA to the pilot project under the UNESCOUNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
Programme for the Preservation of Endangered Movable Cultural Properties and Museum Development. The project was implemented over a two year period from October 2003 involving conserving, cataloguing, labeling and presentation of the exhibits, creating digital records of all collections and improving security measures.