IT would be a good idea for the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) to heed calls this week from owners of private museums for further financial and other forms of support. These citizens have spent huge amounts of money to collect these ancient artifacts and to set aside a section of their own homes to display these items. There is also the cost of hosting visiting local and international dignitaries. And who can measure the cost of the time spent to lovingly collect such items, sometimes over an entire lifetime? For example, we ran a story last June about Dr. Abdul Rahman Bin Rashed Aal Zanan who has spent more than 28 years collecting artifacts, some of which are over 120 years old. During this time he collected more than 1,500 items from different parts of the Kingdom. Aal Zanan set up a museum carrying his name in his hometown Al-Afalaj. He has a copy of the Holy Qur'an, which is written in Ottoman calligraphy on only one page measuring 70 centimeters by 40 centimeters, one of the most important pieces of his entire collection. Apart from this, he has a special section for an old traditional house which is built of mud and contains a sitting room which is called the “Majlis”. Zanan has another section which outlines the history of traditional dishes across the Kingdom and another display with traditional weapons and old metal and paper currencies. He said his hobby of collecting artifacts has cost him a great deal of money. But he said he does not mind traveling thousands of kilometers to any part of the Kingdom even if it is only for one or two rare pieces. The SCTA is currently providing support and plans to do more. It recently hosted about 150 private museum owners in Riyadh and promised that they would get more support from the government. Apparently the SCTA has already issued 64 temporary licenses for museums. There is also funding, in the forms of loans, available for architectural heritage at the Saudi Credit Bank. Support for these people and museums is essential. Apart from the obvious boost for the tourism industry, there is the main benefit of preserving one's heritage. Who can put a price on this? __
