A couple of Museums in Amman

Located at the Amphitheater in downtown Amman are 2 small museums: the Jordan Folklore Museum and the Museum of Popular traditions. The museums are small but interesting.

At the right end of the amphitheater you can find the Folklore Museum. This one displays a collection of items showing the traditional Jordanian way of life, including home furnishings, musical instruments and handicrafts.

This represents a typical village home

Top right hand corner: a woman doing embroidery. This was done on folk costume, headdresses and veils, usually in geometric designs. To the left: a woman using a Rahhah, commonly utilised for grinding wheat. 

These are different looms: one for waving straw mats, the vertical one was used by villagers to wave tents from goats hair and the horizontal loom was used to make hair rugs for camels, called "figeh".

"Beit Shaar"

The tents where the Bedouins live are called "Beit Shaar". These ae weaved with goat hair and is completely waterproof. The tents are divided into 2 living areas: "el Muhram" for the women and "el Shigg" for men. To the left hand of the picture there is a man grinding coffee. The instrument is called a "Mihbash" - it is used to ground the coffee after it is roasted, in the process the grinder is making rhythmic musical sounds, accompanied by singing - so the "Mihbash" is also considered a musical instrument.

At the other end of the amphitheater stage is located the second museum: Popular traditions. This museum displays the traditional costumes of Jordan's people. One of the things displayed here are embroideries and dresses. They are really beautiful and differ from town to town.

In the basement, you can find a collection of mosaics from Madaba and other Byzantine Churches in Jordan.