Bahrain Museum

The National Museum of Bahrain

The National Museum is really cool. The building itself and the surrounding grounds have lots of sculptures and art pieces. (The courtyard with all its sculptures is reminiscent of the scene from The Lion, Witch & The Wardrobe where all the animals are frozen by the winter Queen!)The museum gives an overview of Bahrain’s history from neolithic times to the present. It also houses information on Bahrain’s independence from Britain in 1971 and a wonderful section on manuscripts which house some beautiful Qurans, encased in mother of pearl and with fantastic covers. Another section was dedicated to daily life in Bahrain, with an emphasis on the traditional.

A large section of the main hall is dedicated to the Pope’s visit in November 2022, including the Fiat 500 that Pope Francis used to travel around in.

The ancient Dilmun civilisation is extensively covered, including replicas of the thousands of burial mounds that dot the country. In fact, without knowing it, we drove past lots of them on the way to the Grand Prix.

We also hopped on a boat trip curtesy of the museum, to a small UNESCO heritage site of an old Portuguese fort that was part of the pearl trail that formed the bulk of Bahrain’s economy up until the 1930’s.

Overall, well worth the 2 BHD for a visit.