Darat Al Funuun Museum

Darat Al Funuun Museum
My home :

Before I immigrated to the US and become an American citizen, I was born and raised in Amman, Jordan. Amman, also known as the "Philadelphia City," was the center of religions, traditions, honors and the host of all trades.

I was raised in the family house that matured and watched over generations of our extended family members and I have many warm memories of family gatherings there. This beautiful, ancient house is set in three traditional buildings built by my Grandpa in the 1920’s. It is built alongside the archaeological remains of the sixth century Byzantine church which is built over a Roman temple. Both buildings overlook the heart of Amman.

When thinking of Jordan, the architectural imagery that comes to mind centers around a number of ancient and medieval sites. These include Petra, Jerash, the Umayyad desert palaces, and the castles of the Crusader period. Such sites comprise some highly unique and world-renown works of architecture, built over a period of more than two millennia.
In recent years, architects have been working on documenting and even renovating and restoring, examples of some of the rural architecture of Jordan. Many of these date back to the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries, including residential houses built in Amman from about 1920 to 1950. This was a particularly important time for Jordan and the architecture reflects the events of that era. This period begins with the founding of the Emirate of Transjordan in 1921 with Emir (later King) Abdullah bin Al-Hussein (r. 1921-1951) as its first ruler. Transjordan was initially under British Mandate, and in 1946, upon achieving full independence, became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

An important group of buildings belonging to the period between 1920 and 1950, are the houses which Transjordan’s emerging affluent middle class of professionals, government administrators, and merchants constructed. Enough of these structures were built and enough of them survive to enable us to study them with a degree of thoroughness and as a coherent typological group.

The majority of these houses are located in Amman. They are free-standing structures situated on independent plots of land surrounded by walled gardens from all sides. The structures usually consist of one or two stories. They are simple in their massing, planning arrangements, and architectural details. They usually have flat roofs. The middle section contains the entrance and major living room. The side sections contain sleeping areas and service areas including kitchens, storage rooms, and lavatories. One of the corner rooms located next to the entrance has been used for receiving guests. The central section of the house replaced the courtyard. The prototypes for these houses are the houses built in the urban centers of Bilad al-Sham during the early twentieth century. With the 1940s, this traditional arrangement gave way to a more Western one, in which the bedrooms are grouped together and are separated from the living, dining, and family rooms, which themselves form a second set of spaces.

Unlike traditional urban and rural houses in Bilad al-Sham, which usually served extended families, these houses were intended to serve the nuclear family. In fact, the emergence of these houses is a manifestation of the process of modernization that began to affect the Arab World during this period.

In 1993, Queen Noor Al Hussein, the mother Queen of Jordan, and Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation * bought our house and restored it for public use as a museum now called "Darat Al Funun Museum," which means "The Home of Art". By doing so, they made our house open to the public as part of the country’s heritage. In addition, Darat Al Funuun was amongst the few in modern Amman which represent the traditional architecture of the early 20^th century. This house was bought and converted to a museum to strengthen the vitality and appreciation of contemporary Arab arts and to help today’s visual expression take its deserved place as a cornerstone in the building of contemporary Arab culture.

* Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation has devoted its efforts to supporting scientific research through its patronage of the works of the young generation of scientists, by publishing their research and by awarding annual prizes as a means of motivation. The Foundation also established the first well-equipped and fully computerized library in Jordan, as well as an information databank which facilitates the retrieval of information by Arab researchers in an age of constantly-evolving technology. By establishing the Scientific and Cultural Forum in 1987, the Foundation gave due attention to the wider public.