To explain Leptis Magna in detail would be out of my depth so I will not. There is plenty of material available to travelers interested in it. These are the basics. The city has been founded by Phoenicians around 1100BC, in 146BC came under Roman Empire and it was at it highest peak around 150 when Septimius Severus (Leptis native) became Roman emperor and naturally put a lot of wealth in the town. By middle of 4th century the town was largely abandoned and soon after it came under control of Vandals. In early 6th century it came under Eastern Roman Empire but it never really recovered from Vandal (and Berber) occupation. By the time Arabs came in middle of 7th century it was almost completely abandoned. I have been on the site several times and loved it each and every time a bit more.
The museum however, I visited now for the first time. If you expect it to be a tribute to Leptis Magna and very clear introduction to the site, it will come quite short of expectations.
To greet you, there is 2 floors high cut-out billboard Colonel looking happy as a clam in the atrium of the museum. I would be equally happy if my billboard would stand on three column bases. Three Roman column bases. I mean... This is Leptis Magna. I... have no words...
Also, last few rooms are obviously dedicated to last 39 years. Since Leptis Magna was a prosperous city then....So.. a suggestion - if you insist on putting up models of "important" buildings produced in last 39 years (which are all embarrassingly ugly), do so more professionally. Children car toys should be left with children. They do not belong on any model. But of course since I have very little knowledge of Arabic maybe the real meaning of the displayed models escaped me.... Since last few rooms had explanations only in Arabic...
As for the rest of the museum exhibit - it should be followed anticlockwise and it is chronological. At times. Everything displayed is lovely and beautiful and really there is no critcism there. But.
It would be more clear if short explanation of period (you know the bigger picture) would be added as we follow the exhibit. Half of the time I had no clue where (time wise) are we or what is specific object used for. Maybe the museum could even hire an artist who can make drawings of the town (there is one on display and it is impressive) and important buildings as they were at the time and put up relevant posters in rooms. And since I am getting ahead of myself, why not chuck in somewhere a room with some kind of thematic film?
I could see that someone put an effort into putting up explanatory tags in each room in Arabic and English. Whoever you are - I want to say THANK YOU!!!! I could tell that that person is probably archeologist or an expert of that sort. However, we (the visitors) are usually not. We need explanations of this sort "shown pot was excavated in ____, and it is thought that it was used to ....boil milk. It was quite usual household item of that time" OR "this wall relief was put on every street and it represented _____." OR "this beautiful naked David statue belonged to rich merchant and the model was young slave he fooled around with." Just an idea... Dont you just hate walking around trying to follow exhibition from a travel book?
Some exhibits are explained in detail, while the whole display cases, of for example oil lamps, are just clustered together without any explanation. There were statue after statue with only short name of the god it represented. Toward the end of ground floor, there were barely explanations left. On the second floor you could amuse yourself with guessing games. More consistency and in-depth explanations would be nicer. I am just saying..
And although there is Bedouin tent displayed at the end of exhibition, there is no example of roman house. You know, how did the average citizen live at that time. I would love to see that. And hence this is after all Leptis Manga I believe it would be beneficial for everyone if there was one. Or two...
It was sunny and beautiful day outside, but very little light came in the museum due to exceptionally dirty windows. Too add to the insult, the artificial lighting was quite quirky - in most of the rooms the light was off (and couldnt be put on, I know since I tried) and the lamps that worked did an amazing job of blinding you as you peered in the showcase.
Toward the end of the exhibit (2nd floor) I couldnt help but notice the contrast between roman accomplishments and Arab accomplishments in this area of the world. It is always quite shocking, isnt it? On one side you have Romans who managed thousands of years ago to accomplish civil society in which mostly every citizen benefited from seeing beautiful statues on the way to work, had access to gorgeous baths, could go to theater or circus or to sport grounds, could have faith in law laid out for him and generally led prosperous and happy life in a stone house. On the other hand you have current Libyan society in which well, there is very little beauty present. Mind you, if you look at what Italians managed to do with their heritage, Libya is not half bad.
So not to leave you completely buggered up, its not that I didnt like the museum, I did but I only did because I didnt have a choice, if you understand what I mean. I did not expect Louvre, but Leptis Magna is a magnificent place and it is a shame the museum does not use that advantage. You would think that a country which is going to spend 25 billions dinars on urban development could spare few thousands on museum improvements...
As for the pricing - the ticket is 3 dinars per person and 2 hours should be more than enough to go through it. However, if it was more professionally done I would gladly spend 5 hours there and paid 20 dinars for it. I would pay 30 dinars if they would get rid of all those policeman crawling around and hired some real museum guys. With nice museum uniform on in which they can patrol around museum and yell at the children (and amazingly - grown ups) leaving all kinds of fruit on the statues...
On completely other note - Can anyone tell me how much is a kilo of avocados?
