The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has issued a license for the establishment of the country’s first ever Museum of History of Science and Technology in Islam.

Issued by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH), the license will see the museum established at the Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh.

The project, said a release, will be developed in collaboration with the Institute of Arab and Islamic Sciences History at Frankfurt University, and inaugurated by the custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Information on the architects has yet to be revealed.

According to Abdulaziz Al Hassan, the SCTH’s director engineer, the museum will feature “ancient artefacts and historical masterpieces that exhibit the cultural dimension of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia throughout the ages”.

In recent years Saudi Arabia has paid great attention to various sectors of tourism and national heritage in an effort to help them achieve the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 plan – the blueprint to realise its long-term tourism goals by increasing revenue generated from tourism to 18 percent of GDP.

Last year, the government allocated SAR9.9bn (US$2.64bn, €2.29bn, £2.02bn) to develop and rebuild the country’s tourism projects in its attempt to turn it into a world-class tourism destination. The government said that the new initiatives cover various economic, social and development areas expected to contribute to the transformation of the Kingdom to the digital age, as well as promote public-private partnerships, create jobs and increase national income.

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