Roads of Arabia lead to the Louvre museum

One of the most devout and insular countries in the world, Saudi Arabia has emerged from being an underdeveloped desert kingdom to one of the wealthiest nations in the region thanks to vast oil resources.

Now an exhibition at the Louvre museum in Paris is showing a new dimension to this historically closed country for those willing to put aside the sensational stories surrounding it. More than 7,000 years of Arabian history have been put on show.

At the start of the exhibition – a funeral statue of a small sandstone man dating from 4000 BC is on show for the first time. The head is leaning to one side, expressing pain or sadness. It could have been seen as a "pagan idol” in the Islamic era. (Photo: Eve Jackson) This funeral statue is part of the general presentation of prehistoric Arabia. It comes from near the city of Ha'il. (Photo: Eve Jackson) An anthropomorphic stele from near Al-Ula. (Photo: Eve Jackson) An artefact from the island of Tarut in the eastern province. It shows a naked, beardless man praying. It is sculpted wholly in Sumerian style and made of limestone either in Mesopotamia or locally by a Mesopotamian, probably around 2500 BC. (Photo: Eve Jackson) Three colossal statues in red sandstone represent the rulers of the ancient Arabian kingdom of Lihyan, which played an important part in the caravan trade.(Photo: Eve Jackson) One of three sandstone statues representing the rulers of Lihyan. The head has been restored by the museum. Unfortunately the face has been worn away by time. (Photo: Eve Jackson) A king’s head dating back to the sixth century BC. It shows how ancient Arabia put emphasis on art and heritage; Saudi Arabia is now viewed very differently. (Photo: Eve Jackson) From Najran, this bronze lion’s head was found in the 1930s by explorer and writer Abdullah Philby, the father of the spy Kim. He presented it to King Abdul Aziz. (Photo: Eve Jackson) Major archaeological finds were also made in the east of Saudi Arabia, such as the tomb of a little girl, dating from the first century AD. (Photo: Eve Jackson) The second section of the exhibition highlights the role of Arabia as the cradle of Islam. (Photo: Eve Jackson) This gold-plated door of the Kaabat was given to Mecca by an Ottoman sovereign in the 17th century. (Photo: Eve Jackson)

"Roads of Arabia, Archaeology and History of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” displays three hundred works that have never left the country before. Many have never even been seen back home. The exhibition includes statues, gravestones, jewellery, manuscripts, textiles, glass and bronze statues - many predate the birth of Islam in the seventh century.

The exhibition falls into two parts: the pre-Islamic period and the Islamic one. The works reveal little-known aspects of a prosperous and flourishing pre-Islamic Arab world.

To see another side of Saudi Arabia and find out the story of the different cultures and civilisations that inhabited the Arabian Peninsula, the Roads to Arabia exhibition is on at the Louvre until 27 September.