MUSEUM

bahrain revival
a tour of the qal’at al-bahrain site museum

When the Danish excavators started digging on the site of Qal’at Al-Bahrain in 1954, little did they know that they were about to unveil the remains of the capital city of the Dilmun Empire - one of the most intriguing, lost civilisations of the ancient world. Referred in Sumerian texts as blessed, pure and radiant, the land of Dilmun during the third millennium BC was perceived as an earthly paradise where people aspired to live.

Over the past 50 years, successive Danish (from 1954 to 1972) and French excavations (from 1977 onwards) of Qal’at Al-Bahrain have revealed the site’s historical importance. Despite the misleading modern name (which in English means ‘Bahrain Fort’), the site is an artificial tell (a mound created by successive layers of human habitation) that extends over 17.5 hectares and testifies to almost four millennia of occupation. The strategic positioning of the ancient settlement - due to the presence of a natural access channel cut from the coral reef - laid the foundations for a bustling merchant city, which played a significant role as a trading crossroads for Mesopotamia, the Arabian Peninsula and the Indus Valley. Above all, the city became the Dilmun capital and a busy harbour from the end of the third millennium BC onwards. During the Tylos Period (fourth century BC to the sixth century AD), it was one of the island’s most important cities (despite losing its status as a capital) and enjoyed an exceptionally prosperous phase, which continued into the Hellenistic and subsequent Sassanian realms. After a few centuries of abandonment, a warehouse was established on the site and commercial activity resumed. The flame of entrepreneurial spirit remained alight throughout the Islamic period as ties with Iran and China grew. In the 14th century AD, as the princes of Hormuz gained greater influence over the area, they built the fortress that crowns the site today. The fort underwent various stages of construction and buttressing as a result of successive assaults by the Portuguese and later by the Turks.....