'alam al-matāhif: museum studies in Saudi Arabia

In Saudi Arabia, museum studies ('alam al-matāhif, science of museums) are a pretty much young discipline as the first museums date back to the late seventies. At the time when Western countries were discussing about the development of existing museum studies and the advent of New Museology and most Arab countries had inherited the idea of a museum from Western settlers, Saudi Arabia was conceiving itself its primitive museum studies by mapping a museums' network assigned to display Saudi Arabian history and educate citizens. Therefore pre-Islamic and Islamic artefacts meet within these museums in which collections are significant elements. They are used to display specific Saudi museum narratives and convey specific meanings related to Islam and the figure of the founder of the Kingdom, King 'Abd al-'Aziz, Today, almost eighty regional and specialised museums and five hundreds private collections and museums are used to spread Saudi museum policy towards the Kingdom.