Where to do the cultural bit

If you’re in Amman and want something a little more cerebral than the nearest Irish pub, the city does have something to offer, although its cultural life tends to be a little random and needs to be hunted down. A good place to start is Jabal Luwebdeh, one of the oldest suburbs of Amman and also home to the National Gallery of Fine Arts and to two privately run cultural centres. The National Gallery of Fine Arts (Tel: 463 0128) has a good collection of contemporary Jordanian and Arab art.

Darat Al Funun is Jordan’s largest and longest established private cultural centre (Tel: 464 3251/2). It’s located in a fine old building that was home to one of Jordan’s first prime ministers in the 1920s. It has both permanent and temporary art exhibitions, regular programmes of lectures on art themes and occasional concerts. The concerts are a particular pleasure in the summer when they are held in the garden, graced with both Roman and Byzantine remains.

Jebel Luwebdeh also has Makan House, a more modest establishment that offers art exhibitions, occasional concerts and a regular Wednesday-night showings of independent films (Tel: 463 1969 for details). Books@Cafe on Jabal Amman’s First Circle was the pioneering internet café in Amman, but has always aspired to be much more. It stocks a reasonable range of books and magazines and also screens independent films free of charge on Monday nights.

The French Embassy is also trying to get in on the film scene and now hosts a monthly screening of a French film (with Arabic subtitles) at one of the Le Royal Hotel cinemas at Third Circle, Jabal Amman. The European Commission and the EU embassies in Amman host an annual film festival, which has become a lot more interesting since the expansion of the EU added new countries with strong film-making traditions such as Poland and Hungary. The festival is usually in the autumn and details of films are published in the local papers.

The National Conservatory and the foreign cultural centres in Amman, particularly the French, German, Spanish and Italian are the most reliable sponsors of classical music performances in Amman. September brings a special treat in the shape of Souk Ukaz.

Now coming up for its fourth year, Souk Ukaz emphasises cultural mixing between East and West involving both live music performances and art. The best source for published information on what is on offer is the back page of the English-language daily newspaper