Umm Qais Museum

The museum is located in the Acropolis of the ancient city of Gadara. The museum is a traditional Arabian house which consists of different diwans and rooms that are surrounded by a central courtyard. The house was built in the 1860s during the Ottoman period.^[1] The house was used by an Ottoman governor.^[2] The Faleh Falah al-Rousan family owned the house, and so it was named House of Rousan (Bait al-Rousan), in honor of this family.^[3]

The house was renovated in 1990 to become a museum, used to preserve antiquities of the adjoining archeological site.^[1][4] The rehabilitation of the museum was organized by the General Department of Antiquities and the German Protestant Institute.^[5] Ammar Khammash participated in the restoration of the house.^[6] In April 2021, the museum was presented with boxes of books on Jordan's heritage.^[7] In November 2021, Charles, Prince of Wales visited the museum.^[8]

The museum has among its exhibits mosaics and coins found in excavations.^[9] The museum contains artifacts dating from the Hellenistic to the Islamic period. Among the artifacts in the museum are masks, notably a Dionysius mask made of pure white marble. The museum also has statues of gods such as Zeus, Sator and Artemis, notably a statue of a snake made of yellowish white limestone and a statue of Hermes Arbach made of white marble on a pedestal. The museum also contains some Egyptian statues made of limestone and basalt and an inscription of the poet Eribuis on a tombstone made of basalt.^[5] The museum also exhibits findings from tombs in Umm Qais, as well as pottery collections such as small jars.^[10]