The National museum is the biggest personal museum in Taif. It has more than 30,000 old artifacts on offer, including a number of antiques and some regional pieces. In essence, these antiques are as old as Saudi Arabia itself, including - but not limited to - manuscripts, artwork, weapons and old handicrafts. Located in Taif's Umm Al-Sibaa district, the museum can be visited on the way to Abha from Taif and was established in 1422H (corresponding to 2001), though there is nothing new about the artifacts on show. Some of the automobiles on show, for example, date from before 1950. Even the entrance to the museum is reminiscent of the old doorways of the region with an antique lock set within it. A traditional seating arrangement and exhibition of the kind of clothes one can only - rarely - see in weddings welcome the visitor on arrival. These clothes have been collected from a number of the old tribes from the Arabian peninsula and each garment carries its own history. Leather items and mundane features from a common household like coffee and tea pots come next, followed by a library of sorts featuring old manuscripts, books and copies of the Holy Qur'an. A number of dated photographs of the two Holy Mosques and Taif are also present. The most comprehensive section is styled like a traditional souk and exhibits a number of handicrafts like the tools of a blacksmith, photographer and cotton weaver amongst others. The setting is, in fact, a replica of Taif's oldest souks: the Al-Matani Souk. In an interesting twist, the museum also hosts an antiques' sale every Thursday evening offering interested people the chance to both buy and sell their antiques. One frequent visitor to the museum, Mohammed Usman, told Saudi Gazette that he came upon the museum by accident. “I was reading the newspaper and found out about this museum. The best thing at the museum is its collection of old coins and the old cars, particularly the Volkswagen models,” he said. “During our tour of the museum, it felt as if we are traveling in time...It felt especially good to see antiques from the Al-Hijaz area.” His wife is now urging him to plan a trip to the museum for the entire family. Saudi Gazette also met the owner of the museum who expressed disappointment at the lack of attention his museum received from a tourism perspective. “I am thinking of selling it and donating the proceeds because of the lack of attention it receives from the Commission of Antiques and Tourism and Antiquities and the Taif municipality,” he said. There has been a little progress lately, though. “I recently met someone from the Taif municipality and he visited the museum and requested a few of the antiques to exhibit in the Janadriyah festival, which I provided. It was the first time I participated in the festival.” He added that tourists don't visit the museum simply because they don't know about it and schoolchildren have never visited since schools don't arrange field trips. “Only those people who are interested in antiques visit,” he said. Some of them last summer were Prince Mit'ab bin Abdulaziz, Prince Sultan bin Salman, Dr. Taleb Al-Refaie and Sheikh Abdul-Mohsen Al-Obeikan. “I ask the authorities to help us in a number of ways; in particular, we need experts to maintain the artifacts - especially the manuscripts and the cars,” the owner of the museum stated. The ticket costs 10 riyals and the museum is open on a daily basis from 4 P.M. to 10 P.M.
