The Duke's Diwan
Jordan · Asia
About
The Duke's Diwan (Arabic: ديوان الدوق) 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 ("Duke of Mukhaibeh (-or Mukheibeh-)", 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.
Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.