The Bahrain Heritage Tour, organised by the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (BACA) in collaboration with the French embassy in Bahrain and the Louvre Museum in Paris, offers a unique digital experience: a chance to explore the Dilmun and Tylos civilisations.

The project was launched at Bahrain Bayan School, in the presence of His Excellency Shaikh Khalifa bin Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, the BACA President; Sheikha Aseel bint Khalifa Al Khalifa, Head of the Education Committee at Bahrain Bayan School; His Excellency Eric Giraud-Telme, the French Ambassador to Bahrain, and Julien Koni, the head of the French excavation mission in the Kingdom.

The innovative project will run until November 23. During this period, a team comprising representatives from the Bahrain National Museum and the Louvre Museum will tour various educational institutions and archaeological sites.

By integrating state-of-the-art digital technologies, the initiative will provide the Bahraini public – from school and university students to the local community – an opportunity to learn about the Dilmun and Tylos periods in a unique manner for the first time.

This project is part of efforts to promote cultural tourism and enhance public access to Bahraini cultural heritage and introduce the local community to this unique historical legacy through modern technology.

The initiative aims to highlight the history of Bahrain’s ancient civilisations by expanding the reach of the exhibition: From Dilmun to Tylos: An Archaeological Journey in the Kingdom of Bahrain, hosted by the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Over the course of two weeks, the project, overseen by Julien Koni will travel from north to south across Bahrain’s governorates, stopping at several public and private schools and universities to allow students to participate in this one-of-a-kind interactive initiative.

The digital experience will also be made available to the public at various archaeological and heritage sites, providing visitors the opportunity to learn more about the sites, their history and the people who inhabited them thousands of years ago.

The digital experience, created by Femme Fatale Studio, will be displayed on a set of tablets, equipped with a customised application, featuring photographs of a collection of artefacts such as pottery jars, utensils, cuneiform tablets, Dilmun seals and statues that depict various facets of the social and cultural life of Bahrain’s ancient inhabitants. The Bahrain National Museum loaned these artefacts, photographed by Iconem, to the Louvre Museum in Paris for a five-year period.

Other scientific and archaeological data, collected by the French archaeological mission in Bahrain in collaboration with specialists from BACA, will also be part of the presentation.

The Bahrain Heritage Tour focuses on introducing the core elements of Bahraini heritage, highlighting the significant role of archaeological excavation and research in documenting and preserving its legacy.

It also raises awareness of the importance of preserving archaeological sites, particularly Dilmun’s burial mounds spread out in A’ali, and its surroundings.

A select number of university students from Bahrain will be participating in the project. A training course will be organised at its conclusion, providing them with the opportunity to study heritage and archaeological research in France.

This project was made possible through the generous support of Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) and the scientific support of the Louvre Museum as well as contributions from the Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage, the Observatory of Heritage in the Middle East and the École du Louvre.

The exhibition at the Louvre Museum began in October 2022 and reflects the close collaboration between the museum and BACA. The agreement between the two entities was signed during the visit of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to the French capital in 2019.  

Along with the artefacts from Bahrain, the exhibition also features other pieces from the Louvre’s Near East Department and tells the story of the civilisations that inhabited Bahrain from the Bronze Age more than 4,000 years ago until the start of the first millennium AD.

GO: Visit www.culture.gov.bh for more information.