Queen Rania Visits La Storia Museum in Madaba

(Office of Her Majesty – Press Department – Madaba) - Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah visited La Storia Museum in Mount Nebo in Madaba today and took part in adding a few small stones to what aims to be the largest mosaic in the world, a project given the name the “King’s Way”.

The mosaic project “King’s Way” aims to enter the Guinness World Records with the world’s largest mosaic portrait that will, when finished, span over 180 square meters. The mosaic is a visual representation of the various cities peppered along the “King’s Way”, a path that starts at the south of the Kingdom in Aqaba and which then travels North to reach its end at Bosra Sham.

Work on the mosaic started in March of 2013 and has since encouraged the participation of locals and tourists to contribute to the mosaic by adding small stones to it. The mosaic will not only be the largest mosaic in the world, but the largest collaborative art-work of its scale. It is approximated that, once completed, the mosaic will comprise of 3.5 million stones. It is estimated that 1 million pieces have been placed by around 45,000 people so far.

Her Majesty toured the museum which tells the story of the region represented by mechanically animated statues and models, and incorporates a mixture of religious and cultural heritage of Jordan and the region. The museum contains several models that represent different historical periods, some of which portray aspects of ancient life in villages and cities of the Kingdom and the Valley.

On her tour, Queen Rania was accompanied by Mr. Samer Twal, Chairman of Madaba Tourism Development and Heritage Preservation Association (MTA), Mr. Bashar Twal, Director and Co-Founder of La Storia Museum, and Mr. Munther Hamarneh, Director of MTA.

Her Majesty also had the opportunity to meet with board of trustees of MTA and was briefed on the association’s goals and plans for the future. During this meeting, Her Majesty explained how the presence of such local associations plays a crucial role in promoting local tourism and helps in their development and creates job opportunities for locals in the community.

The museum also contains a special wing dedicated to handicraft training such as decorating seashells, producing mosaics, wood sculpting, embroidery, and ostrich egg painting. Finished art products are put up for sale in a showroom that includes many high quality art products.

Madaba Tourism Development and Heritage Preservation Association (MTA) was established in 2006 as a voluntary not-for-profit organization to promote tourism and economic growth in Madaba in line with the country’s National Tourism Strategy.