On 15 February, at the Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle Est (SESAME), the Ambassador of Italy to Jordan, Fabio Cassese, inaugurated a new laboratory of the INFN network dedicated to cultural heritage (CHNet), at Allan. The ceremony took place in the presence of the Director of SESAME, Khaled Toukan, and numerous members of the scientific community. The event was attended for INFN by the coordinator of the INFN-CHNet network, Francesco Taccetti, and Mariangela Cestelli Guidi, head of the synchrotron light line of the Dafne-Luce Laboratory of the INFN Frascati National Laboratories. The newly established laboratory will be able to take advantage of new high-profile technical instrumentation, in particular a microscope and a spectroscope, funded and installed at SESAME by INFN. 

Formally opened by HRH King Abdullah II of Jordan on 16 May 2017, SESAME is a large independet intergovernmental scientific facility, born under the auspices of UNESCO and modeled on CERN, albeit with very different scientific objectives. It is the only synchrotron light source in the Middle East, as well as the first truly international scientific centre of excellence in the region, whose activities are applied in areas ranging from materials science to biology and from medicine to cultural heritage protection. Created under the auspices of UNESCO, it is an independent intergovernmental organization modelled on CERN, albeit with very different scientific objectives.