Muscat Festival 2015: Omani heritage collection worth a thousand words
Muscat: Right in the heart of the Heritage Village of Muscat Festival in Amerat Park, lies a section which embodies the essence of Oman's history. Sitting in front of the indoor stall, Marhoon Khalifa Zaher Al Basami, is getting ready to leave but gives a welcoming smile and agrees to open the door to his priceless collection before heading home.
The ambience of the collection strikes you the moment you enter the room, where various objects dating back to hundreds of years ago can be seen.
Speaking to Times of Oman, Al Basami, who has an antique shop called 'Abu Hamed Antiques' in Rustaq, says that he has been collecting these historical items since as far back as he can remember.
What started as a hobby turned into both passion and business, the collection on display includes some rare and unique items, which visitors cannot afford not to touch despite the 'no touching' label.
Bayonets, daggers and swords, various types of guns and other weapons, battle gear, different types of copper pots and containers, farming equipment, decorative accessories, objects for grinding grain, pottery, traditional scale, baskets, household items, old stamps and other antique objects offers enough to entertain visitors.
Al Basami said that these items have been collected from different governorates of Oman and he puts them on display on different occasions inside and outside the country. This is well documented in pages of the newspapers hanging on the wall, which highlight his role as a heritage ambassador of the Sultanate.
Ahmed Al Rashdi, who came to visit the collection when he saw the door open, said that the country needs more people like Al Basami who have put their heart and soul into preserving the history of the Sultanate through collecting historical items.
Al Basami's collection is like an open history book, and it is true to say that his collection is worth a thousand words.
