Dear Arnon,
For some years I have been advising on museum and heritage matters in the
West Bank and Gaza at the request of the British Council (the UK
government agency for international educational, cultural and scientific
cooperation and aid) though the British and wider European work has been
largely suspended for a matter of years now because of the security
situation.
On your specific questions:
Khalil Sakakini (1878 - 1953) was a Palestinian Christian (Orthodox) born
in Jerusalem. He received his schooling in Jerusalem at the Greek Orthodox
school, at the Church Missionary Society College, and at the Zion English
College, followed by educational studies in the United Kingdom and the USA.
He subsequently pioneered educational reform, was jailed by the Ottoman
authorities in Damascus for sheltering an American spy during World War I.
After the War he became the Inspector of Education for Palestine under the
British Mandate, and a noted figure in the Palestinian community for
educational work and his literary and political writings. His family home
and other property in Jerusalem was seized in the 1948 war and he died in
exile in Cairo. However, his manuscripts and other archives are
deposited in the Hebrew University and his name is honoured and
commemorated in several places in Israel, e.g. as street and school names.
The Sakakini Cultural Centre is an non-governmental organisation run by a
Foundation of independent professionals and patrons, an is dedicated to
the promotion of arts and culture - both local and international - in
Palestine. It is based in Ramallah in one of the most important surviving
traditional early 20th century buildings in the City and a former home
of the Mayor of Ramallah, which is under legal historic building
protection. it was expertly restored, converted and extended by the Riwaq
Architectural and Historic Conservation Organisation (which I know
well) with financial and other assistance from both local and international
funds, both public and private. The Centre opened in 1998 and it was
extended in 2001.
It is not an historical or antiquities museum. It is what would be called
a Contemporary Art Museum in the USA or UK or a "Maison de la Culture" in
France. Its main activities are presenting contemporary visual
exhibitions, education in and promotion of the visual arts and crafts,
plus literature, music and theatre. (The Centre has a multi-purpose
performance auditorium and lecture theatre.) Other activities including
international cultural and artistic exchanges, and showcasing innovative
artistic productions. Current major funders include the Ford Foundation,
while the Heinrich Boell Foundation is a major supporter of the Centre's
literature programmes.
I have no knowledge of any damage to the Centre in the recent Israeli
Defence Force operations in Ramallah. However, the building is close of
the Palestinian Authority's headquarters, and I believe that all the
international press confirmed that most buildings in the vicinity were
taken over temporarily for military purposes, and that much damage
occurred in the fighting in that part of the City. (British journalists
and politicians have confirmed that there has been very extensive damage
to the building of the Ministry of Culture, which overlooks directly the
Presidential Compound and Heliport, and - more important - the central
catalogue records of the collections of museums, monuments and sites
across the West Bank. Also the official educational and examination
records of tens of thousands of current and past students have been
seriously damaged or completely destroyed in the neighbouring Education
Ministry building.
On your final point, the Palestinian Authority has established small site
museums on several historic buildings and sites restored by the
Antiquities and Tourism Ministry, either directly or through a wide range
of international aid programmes, both governmental and
non-governmental.
However, the main museums in the areas under the Palestinian Authority
have been established, financed, and are run, by independent non-profit
Foundations established by local people along American lines. All are
largely depended on voluntary professional and technical labour, though
"amateur" in the derogatory sense would not be the right description.
Those involved include people who are very well educated in the subjects
covered, and in at least two cases retired
Particularly important ones include the Bethlehem Folklore Museum
(established and run by the - mainly Christian - Arab Women's Union, and
which dates from around 1947) and the Palestine Folklore Museum in El
Birah (the Moslem twin village of the traditionally Christian Ramallah -
established and run by the Iwash El-Usra Foundation which dates from the
late 1960s or early 1970s). Both of these concentrate on mainly on
traditional crafts and textiles, conserved and presented quite
professionally, and supported in part by co-operative production and
marketing of traditional crafts of very high quality, which are sold both
internationally and locally for the benefit of the craftspeople. Both are
particularly active in supporting women's skills and micro-enterprise
development.
A third museum under development since the mid-'90s is that of the Zafir
Al-Masri Foundation in Nablus, which is centred on the quite remarkable
large-scale excavated site of the City's wide main street of around the
1st or 2nd century CE. when despite the Roman occupation Nablus remained
an almost wholly Greek city in cultural terms. This site is around 20ft
below the current surface, so it is now preserved in a sort of 20ft deep
basement under a new United Nations-funded High School building. In
addition to the archaeological site and finds, the museum also has very
good collections and displays of traditional crafts, textiles and social
history.
However, I have not yet heard whether any of these three have been
affected by the recent military activities in these three towns.
Much the largest West Bank museum, and the only one with full-time
professional staffing so far as I am aware, is the Rockefeller
Archaeological Museum in East Jerusalem, which is part of the Israeli
national museums service.
Patrick Boylan
==============================
On Mon, 27 May 2002 [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Hoping this discussion list is also interested in "museum stuff" and not
> only in Palestinian propaganda,
> may I ask for some information concerning the Khalil Sakakini Cultural
> Centre:
>
> Was it indeed established as a museum ? When and by whom ?
> Who is (or was) Khalil Sakakini ?
> How does it comply with ICOM definitions of a museum.
> Can someone produce any descriptive material to give the reader any idea
> about layout and displays in the centre ?
> Was anything of cultural nature published by the centre ?
>
> No doubt these questions can be turned into a political debate but I really
> expect informative answers.
>
> I would appreciate if anyone could inform me of other museums, primarily of
> archaeology and heritage,
> in the Palestinian Authority.
>
> A. Golan
>
> =========================================================
> Important Subscriber Information:
>
> The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
>
> If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
>
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
|
