West Bank – Palestinian History Museum Opens Without Exhibits

    3

    Palestinians attend the opening ceremony of the Palestinian Museum for Arts and History, located in West Bank town of BirZeit, north of Ramallah, 18 May 2016. The $30 million Palestinian Museum contemporary building aims to redefine the Palestinian art, history and culture.  EPA/ATEF SAFADIWest Bank – The Palestinians opened a dazzling new museum Wednesday aimed at telling the tale of their history and culture, but the building is devoid of exhibits.

    Join our WhatsApp group

    Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email


    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas inaugurated the museum, the biggest project the Palestinians have undertaken in terms of scale, space and budget.

    “This museum will tell the world, the whole world, that we have been here, and we are staying here, and we will stay here to establish our independent state,” Abbas said at the ceremony.

    Surrounded by the beige and green tones that define the West Bank landscape of rocky hills and terraced groves, it is the largest museum dedicated to Palestinian history, culture and society.

    The glass and stone building, nestled on a grassy hill adjacent to Birzeit University, is an important Palestinian symbol of nationalism.

    But the museum’s halls are empty as organizers decided to celebrate the building completion before they could arrange any exhibits. In addition, a dispute over different creative visions for the museum’s opening led to the resignation of the previous director only six months ago.

    The Palestinian Museum’s Chairman, Omar Al-Qattan, concedes that the first collection won’t be on display until the end of this year; nevertheless he says that it was important to go ahead with the inauguration.
    Palestinians tour at the Palestinian Museum for Arts and History during the opening ceremony, in West Bank town of BirZeit, north of Ramallah, 18 May 2016. The $30 million Palestinian Museum contemporary building aims to redefine the Palestinian art, history and culture.  EPA/ATEF SAFADI
    “We had the option of opening to either celebrate the building and then starting the program’s development and opening the first exhibition later or doing everything at the same time, which would have meant probably six or eight months of delays. We thought ‘Let’s celebrate the building’ because in the current circumstances which are so challenging here in Palestine … it would be wonderful to have an affirmative, celebratory building to say that we’re here, that we want to celebrate our cultural history,” Al-Qattan said.

    The museum’s opening has been timed to coincide with the Palestinians’ recent commemorations of “Nakba day,” the term they use for the 1948 war that led to the creation of Israel in which Palestinians fled or were forced to leave during fighting.

    One of the aims of the project is to connect with Palestinians living in the diaspora, Al-Qattan said as he announced the opening of a new exposition in Lebanon next week.

    “We consider this building to be the mothership and we hope to create a number of satellites in Palestinian communities across the world and within the country so that we can share programs and skills in the future collections. Next week in Beirut we open the first of these satellites exhibitions which is a political history of Palestinian embroidery,” said Al-Qattan, himself a Lebanese-born descendent of Palestinian refugees.

    Although the idea of the museum was first launched in the late 90s, it wasn’t until a little over three years ago that building construction started. The edifice is located on a 40,000 square-meter piece of land and its completion cost $28 million, Al-Qattan said.

    Palestinians already have about 30 museums in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, the areas where they hope to establish a state, but nothing on the scale of the museum in Birzeit.
    Palestinians tour at the Palestinian Museum for Arts and History during the opening ceremony, in West Bank town of BirZeit, north of Ramallah, 18 May 2016. The $30 million Palestinian Museum contemporary building aims to redefine the Palestinian art, history and culture.  EPA/ATEF SAFADI


    Listen to the VINnews podcast on:

    iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon

    Follow VINnews for Breaking News Updates


    Connect with VINnews

    Join our WhatsApp group


    3 Comments
    Most Voted
    Newest Oldest
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    bennyt
    bennyt
    7 years ago

    Why don’t they put the bodies of dead terrorists on display?

    Tsfat-Breslover-Kotzker
    Tsfat-Breslover-Kotzker
    7 years ago

    Amazing.
    They got all of Palestinian history in one exhibit.
    By having an empty room.

    ayoyo
    ayoyo
    7 years ago

    What is the history of palestine ?The land belonged to the jewish nation . The romans captured it and later egyptians and then the turks till the europeans conquered it from them in WW1 and made it a protectorate.There was never a nation of palestinians who had a ruler and governed the land .The moslems have a problem in that they cant recognize the truth in any situation rely on fables as truth.When given the opportunity to create a state in 1948 they refused and all of the arab states declared war on israel.The capital was ramala for hundreds of years when ruled by the turks A.K.A. THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE .