PRE-ISLAM SAUDI TREASURES ON SHOW FOR FIRST TIME
Baku, August 2 (AZERTAC). A "groundbreaking" new exhibition of rare artifacts from Saudi Arabia`s ancient past -- some which have never been shown abroad -- has opened in the Louvre, Paris.
The world-famous museum is hosting Roads of Arabia: Archaeology and History of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a traveling exhibition showcasing 300 archeological treasures found in the Gulf country, many pre-dating the birth of Islam.
"It`s a groundbreaking historic event," the Saudi Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Sultan Bin Salman Bin Abulaziz Al Saud told CNN.
"Saudi Arabia has never been known for its history, and I don`t mean recent history but the procession of civilizations that have existed in Arabia," he said.
The exhibition is the result of 40 years of excavation across Saudi Arabia, with several artifacts only unearthed in the last decade.
Artifacts include jewlry, statues and bowls Works include funerary stelae -- upright commemorative stone slabs -- dating as far back as 4,000 BC; huge statues of the Kings of Liyhan, an ancient kingdom in what is now Saudi.
Also on show are major discoveries from the island of Tarut; gold and pearl jewelry, including a single gold glove, found in a tomb unearthed in the ancient town of Thaj.
Some of the artifacts were only discovered in the last five years and have recently been restored.
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