The museum was officially opened by H H Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud al Said Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers on December 14 2015.

The entrance fees for Omanis and expatriates will be RO1 and RO5 for tourists. An official in MoHC said 'The plan is to open it for public in April.' With over 7000 unique artefacts covering 1.2mn years of human endeavour in Oman the National Museum is the biggest and grandest cultural showpiece after the spectacular Royal Opera House Muscat.

The National Museum came up as per Royal Decree 62/2013 issued on November 20 2013 to be a significant project tasked with preserving all material and non-material items that are part of and highlight the Omani heritage culture and history.

The museum has the country's first Museum Education Centre and the first facility for preventive conservation designed according to the International Council of Museums standards.

It is also the first public building in Oman to have advanced facilities for people with special needs. Braille in Arabic and open displays with interactive systems have been made available. The building has come up over 13700sq m of which 4000sq m has been dedicated to 15 halls for fixed exhibits.

Among these are the Earth and Man Hall Maritime History Hall Hall of Arms Hall of Civilisational Achievements Aflaj Hall Currency Hall Prehistory Hall Hall of Oman and the Outside World Hall of Greatness of Islam and Renaissance Hall along with a hall dedicated to a temporary exhibition. Between 2010 and 2014 30 experts and scholars from Oman and abroad were involved in preparing and developing narrative content. They were assisted by 21 archaeological teams.

'We are looking at the world's best museum practices. We can safely say that the experience of the National Museum will be something which has not been seen in Oman.

'But it will be an experience deeply rooted in the history arts and craft of the country. So it has a strong local element because of its nature but as an experience and as an execution it will be of the highest international standards' Jamal al Moosawi director National Museum MoHC had told Muscat Daily.