Queen joins celebration marking the Children’s Museum’s 15th anniversary

AMMAN — Her Majesty Queen Rania joined staff, partners, and donors of the Children’s Museum on Wednesday in a celebration that marked its 15th anniversary, and inaugurated its newly upgraded Technology and Communications Exhibition.

Joined by the museum’s director, Sawsan Dalaq, and Zain Jordan’s CEO, Fahad Al Jassem, Her Majesty met the museum’s staff and toured the recently refurbished Technology and Communications space, according to a statement from Her Majesty’s office.

The Technology and Communications Exhibition was renovated with the support of Zain Jordan, a founding partner of the museum, and redesigned by two Jordanian engineers, Batool Ghanem and Shahd Al Khateeb, whose winning designs were chosen in a competition overseen by Zain’s innovation campus, ZINC, and the museum’s design and exhibitions team.

The multifaceted space now boasts interactive exhibits that teach young visitors about the workings of the digital world, and tackle an array of tech-related disciplines, including coding, the Internet of Things, the digital cloud, cybersecurity, as well as data confidentiality and protection.

Her Majesty later joined a group of the museum’s donors and partners at a reception that underscored in a short video its accomplishments over the years. 

Among its top achievements are the Museum for All initiative, which provides subsidised, free-of-charge museum entry to charity associations, orphanages, low-income families, and refugees, and the Mobile Museum initiative, which tours Jordan’s governorates and remote areas year-round, offering children the opportunity to take part in the museum’s unique learning experiences.

In their remarks during the reception, Dalaq and the chairman of the museum’s board of directors, Raja Gharghor, thanked Her Majesty for bringing to life one of the most frequented museums in the country, and highlighted the museum’s lasting impact on its visitors, as well as its continued role in nourishing children’s curiosity, creativity, skills, and imagination.

Launched by Her Majesty in 2007, and in line with her vision, the Children’s Museum Jordan is an educational non-profit organisation that is home to 185 indoor and outdoor interactive exhibits. 

It also hosts other educational facilities, including a library, an art studio, and the Secret Garden. The museum organises a variety of events, including year-round programs, camps, science shows and demonstrations, and The Science and Arts Festival. 

Since its inception, the museum has welcomed more than 3.3 million visitors, and benefited over 900 thousand students from public, private, and UNRWA schools through its exhibits, initiatives, and programmes.