"Tripoli - National Museum" Top 5 Page for this destination Tripoli Things to Do Tip by TheWanderingCamel

Libya's National Museum is a treasury of archaeological finds that reach back into prehistoric times.

What I love about museums like this is that everything in them belongs there - they are not the storehouses of loot (fantastic as the collections may be) that the great museums of Europe and the US can be. Everything you see in this museum has a story to tell about Libya itself and the total is a wonderfully coherent record of this ancient land.

The museum is very well laid out, with the galleries following a clear chronological progression from the earliest Neolithic cultures - represented by fabulously lifelike and endearing rock art from Jebel Akakus in the far south-western desert - through successive invasions and civilizations - Phoenician, Greek, Roman and Islamic. The upper floors house ethnographic displays of Berber and Tuareg life as well as the country's more modern history - though these particular galleries were closed when I was there.

Whilst the artifacts are extremely well displayed with very effective use of background colour, groupings of sculpture, placing of mosaics, etc, the signage is mostly in Arabic, so do take either a guidebook if you visit on your own, or listen to your guide if you are in a group and you want to know it all. It is so well laid out though that general interpretation is very easy and you may well find that the the brevity of description is more than balanced by beauty of the objects on display.

Directions: Open Tuesday -Sunday: 9-1 and 3-6
Admission - 3LD
Cameras - 5LD