Red Sea Museum Presents Sunken Treasures Exhibition Highlighting Maritime Heritage

The Red Sea Museum has opened the exhibition "Sunken Treasures: The Maritime Heritage of the Red Sea" at the historic Bab Al Bunt building in Historic Jeddah. Cultural leaders, researchers, and community partners attended the opening event, which introduced visitors to rare underwater discoveries and highlighted Saudi Arabia’s maritime past along the Red Sea coast.

The exhibition is now available to the public at the Red Sea Museum in Historic Jeddah. Its displays focus on shipwrecks, trade routes, and the natural environment, showing how objects recovered from the seabed reveal stories about people, commerce, and faith across many centuries of Red Sea history.

During the opening ceremony, a panel on maritime heritage and underwater archaeology brought together leading specialists. Speakers discussed how archaeologists locate, record, and protect submerged sites. They explained how careful documentation turns underwater finds into reliable historical evidence, supporting research on navigation, trade networks, and everyday objects linked to seafaring communities.

The panel also underlined cooperation between the Heritage Commission, the Historic Jeddah Program, and different archaeological missions working along Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coastline. Participants stressed that joint fieldwork, shared data, and long-term planning are essential to safeguard underwater cultural heritage so that future generations can study and understand these fragile resources.

Guests then joined a special curator-led tour of "Sunken Treasures". Director of the Red Sea Museum Eman Zidan and Co-Director, Saudi-French Archaeological Mission in Farasan Dr. Solène Marion de Procé guided visitors through several themed sections, explaining how recovered shipwrecks function as archives of history and later become habitats for marine life and coral growth.

The evening programme ended with a Ramadan reception, held within the Bab Al Bunt building. The event combined the launch of the exhibition with the atmosphere of the holy month, reflecting the museum’s approach to cultural programming that respects religious traditions while encouraging audiences to engage with historical and scientific content.

Red Sea Museum, Vision 2030 and cultural infrastructure

The opening of "Sunken Treasures" marks an important stage for the Red Sea Museum, which is described as Saudi Arabia’s first institution dedicated specifically to the Red Sea’s maritime history, cultural heritage, and biodiversity. The museum operates from the restored Bab Al Bunt building, a structure that historically welcomed travellers arriving in Jeddah by sea.

This setting illustrates how historic architecture and present-day conservation work together. Under Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia invests in cultural infrastructure that serves residents and international visitors. The Red Sea Museum is presented as the first fully inclusive and accessible museum in the Kingdom, supporting policies that aim to make cultural spaces open and practical for all people.

Through exhibitions such as "Sunken Treasures", public events, and partnerships with research institutions, the Red Sea Museum seeks to protect heritage while also encouraging knowledge exchange, education, and sustainable development. Its activities present cultural heritage as a living record of human experience, connecting communities with their roots and offering structured learning opportunities for younger generations.

The museum’s broader role, as shown during the exhibition launch, links scientific research, community participation, and national cultural goals. By combining underwater archaeology, careful curation, and accessible programming, the Red Sea Museum contributes to Saudi Arabia’s wider efforts to document the Red Sea’s past and share these findings with audiences across the Kingdom and beyond. SPA reported the event at 11:34 Local Time, 08:34 GMT.

With inputs from SPA