What to See in Amman - Top Sights and Attractions

Well-known historic site with ruins. The Amman Citadel is an archeological site at the center of downtown Amman, the capital of Jordan. The L-shaped hill is one of the seven hills that originally made up Amman.

The Citadel has a long history of occupation by many great civilizations. Evidence of inhabitance since the Neolithic period has been found and the hill was fortified during the Bronze Age (1800 BCE). The hill became the capital of the Kingdom of Ammon sometime after 1200 BCE. It later came under the sway of empires such as the Neo-Assyrian Empire (8th century BCE), Neo-Babylonian Empire (6th century BC), the Ptolemies, the Seleucids (3rd century BCE), Romans (1st century BCE), Byzantines (3rd century CE) and the Umayyads (7th century CE). After the Umayyads, came a period of decline and for much of the time until 1878 as the former city became an abandoned pile of ruins only sporadically used by Bedouins and seasonal farmers. Despite this gap, the Citadel of Amman is considered to be among the world's oldest continuously inhabited places.

Most of the structures still visible at the site are from the Roman, Byzantine, and Umayyad periods. The major remains at the site are the Temple of Hercules, a Byzantine church, and the Umayyad Palace. The Jordan Archaeological Museum was built on the hill in 1951. Though the fortification walls enclose the heart of the site, the ancient periods of occupation covered large areas. Historic structures, tombs, arches, walls and stairs have no modern borders, and therefore there is considerable archaeological potential at this site, as well as in surrounding lands, and throughout Amman. Archaeologists have been working at the site since the 1920s, including Italian, British, French, Spanish, and Jordanian projects, but a great part of the Citadel remains unexcavated.^[1]

Museum in Amman, Jordan. The Jordan Museum is located in Ras Al-Ein district of Amman, Jordan. Built in 2014, the museum is the largest museum in Jordan and hosts the country's most important archaeological findings.

The museum presents artifacts from various prehistoric archaeological sites in Jordan, including the 7500 BC 'Ain Ghazal statues which are regarded as some of the oldest human statues ever made by human civilization.

The collections in the museum are arranged in chronological order and also features lecture halls, outdoor exhibitions, a library, a conservation centre and an area for children's activities. The museum was established by a committee headed by Queen Rania, which became the only museum in Jordan to implement modern artifact preserving technologies.^[5]

Museum in Amman, Jordan. The Jordan Archaeological Museum is located in the Amman Citadel of Amman, Jordan. Built in 1951, it presents artifacts from archaeological sites in Jordan, dating from prehistoric times to the 15th century. The collections are arranged in chronological order and include items of everyday life such as flint, glass, metal and pottery objects, as well as more artistic items such as jewelry and statues. The museum also includes a coin collection.

The museum formerly housed some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, including the only copper scroll, which are now on display in the newly established Jordan Museum, along with the Ain Ghazal statues, which are among the oldest statues ever made by human civilization.^[6]

Museum in Amman, Jordan. The Duke's Diwan is an arts and cultural center and historic house museum. Located on King Faisal Street in downtown Amman, it is housed in one of the city's oldest buildings.

Built in 1924 as Amman's first post office, the building later became the Finance Ministry, and then the Haifa Hotel from 1948 to 1998. In 2001, it was rented by Mamdouh Bisharat, a Jordanian heritage conservationist and businessman, at double its price to prevent the building's owners from knocking it down. Bisharat turned the building into a Diwan, a gathering place for artists, thinkers, and poets. The rooms of the Diwan, filled with antiquities, pictures, and old furniture, are arranged to show visitors how Jordanians lived during the 20th century.^[7]

Museum in Amman, Jordan. The Royal Tank Museum is a Tank museum in Amman, Jordan. Located next to the King Abdullah II Park in Al-Mugableen, the museum was established in 2007 upon King Abdullah's directives. The museum building was designed by Zaid Daoud Architects as a "futuristic sand castle that borrows from the language of Stealth." It has close to 20,000 sq. m of exhibition space divided into thirteen halls showcasing hundreds of light and heavy military items placed in their historic chronological order "for dramatic impact". Each hall presents a different perspective of machinery and scenery and features around 110 tanks, many of which are historical and were used in Jordan's past wars and battles.

The museum was opened on January 29, 2018, in a ceremony led by His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan.^[8]

Museum in Amman, Jordan. The Children's Museum Jordan is a children's museum in Amman, Jordan. It is located in Al Hussein Public Parks.

The museum was launched by Queen Rania Al Abdullah in 2007. It is a member of the Association of Children's Museums and Hands On! International. 8,000 m2 (86,000 sq ft) includes 180 interactive indoor and outdoor exhibits, and educational facilities, such as an art studio, a library, a multipurpose hall, an outdoor theater, Tinker Lab and Secret Garden, a restaurant with an adjunct party room and a gift shop. On standby are additional spaces with potential for development, such as the exhibit hall extension, a botanical garden annex and the special effects auditorium.

In 2012, the Mobile Museum was launched, targeting children and families living all around Jordan, with the aim of extending the Children's Museum's learning experiences to more children across the kingdom.^[17]