The Jordan Museum, located next to the City Hall, is one of the best in the Middle East. Housed in a grand modern building, a series of beautifully presented and informative displays tell Jordan's historical epic from the first people through the Nabataean civilisation to the cusp of the modern era. Highlights include the oldest-known human statues (the spookily modern 9500-year-old plaster mannequins of Ain Ghazal), Jordan's share of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and a host of remains from Petra and surrounds.
We hope that one day the upstairs galleries, covering Islamic Jordan to the Arab Revolt, will finally be finished, but even without them, this museum is a must.