By Roy Lie A Tjam.
Pilgrimage to Mecca was the theme chosen for the afternoon soiree organised by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia with Aramco Overses Company,
H.E. Ambassador Mr. Abdul-Aziz Abohaimed, and Aramco Overseas Company’s Managing Director, Mr. Fahad Abdulkareem , started at the Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde (the Dutch National Museum for World Cultures) with the inauguration of a permanent “Pilgrimage to Mecca” gallery in the museum on Tuesday March 17.
For a photo-album of the event, please click open here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/121611753@N07/sets/72157651461022311/
Subsequently, at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, Mr. Stroomer, a linguist, gave a lecture regarding inscriptions on “Palm sticks”. The evening proceeded with the very lively Leiden-Aramco Lecture on Ancient Arabian Civilization: “Ancient Arabia: Forgotten Civilizations at the Heart of the Ancient Near East” by Michael Macdonald of Oxford University.
On a same note, the launch of the LeiCenSAA, Leiden Center for the Study of Ancient Arabica, under the eminent directorship of Dr. Achmed Al-Jallad took place. The evening concluded with a reception.