The Palestinian Museum Under Construction

There are around 10 million Palestinians dispersed in the four corners of the world. Generations of Palestinians are born, raised, and  they even age away from their homeland. A new museum is now built in Palestine to connect these Palestinian siblings to each other, to their culture, history and society of modern and contemporary Palestine.

The Museum is expected to open its doors in the fall of 2014, marking the completion of the first construction phase.

The idea of "The Palestinian Museum" started in 1997, when members of the Welfare Association’s Board of Trustees realized the dire need to establish a modern historical museum in Palestine dedicated to preserving and commemorating the Palestinian history, especially the 1948 Nakba.

The Welfare Association (WA) is an NGO established in 1983 by a group of Palestinian business and intellectual figures to provide development and humanitarian assistance. They aim to help Palestinians in the West Bank including Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, 1948 Areas, as well as the Palestinian communities in Lebanon. On April11, 2013, the same day the Welfare Association has celebrated the 30th anniversary of its founding; it has also celebrated the cornerstone-laying ceremony of the Palestinian Museum in Birzeit Township in Ramallah. The important event received wide coverage in Palestinian, Arab and international media.

Metamorphosis

A chain of conceptual changes took place after coming up with the useful idea, the most important of which was due to the second intifada in 2000; this led to reconsidering the purpose behind founding the museum. The museum’s name has then changed from “The Palestinian Museum of Memory” to “The Palestinian Museum,” which reflects a shift in main goal from memorializing the history to presenting itself as a cultural institution that acts as an agent of empowerment and integration for the Palestinians around the world at a time of political tumults and division. 

The Palestinian Museum. Designed by Heneghan Peng.

The museum's mission is now to be "dedicated to the exploration and understanding of the culture, history and society of Palestine and its people. As a space that brings together an innovative mix of exhibitions, research, and education programs, the Museum is a place for inspiration, dialogue, and reflection. Through its digital platforms and international partners it aims to connect with Palestinians wherever they are in the world and with all those interested in Palestine." While its goal is linking 10 million Palestinians scattered worldwide, the Palestinian Museum surveyed the institutions and cultural centers in 1948 areas as part of its efforts toward establishing an effective network of partnerships in several countries around the world. The new museum aims to sign agreements with those institutions that will be part of the museum’s network to provide venues for joint programs and activities. The initial survey was carried out in Jaffa, Haifa, Nazareth, Acre, Shefaram, Sakhnin, Rama, Kufr Yassif, and the Negev.

A green building

The Museum's hub is nestled among Birzeit’s rolling hills and cascading terraces. The construction project is carried out in two phases; the first will comprise 3000 square meters and will include a gallery space, an amphitheater, a cafeteria, classrooms, gardens, offices and public facilities; and it will cost about US$15 million.

Photo from a visit the Museum team paid to the Palestinian Museum construction site in January 2014.

The second phase aims to an expansion of the museum's building to 9000 square meters. The Museum is expected to open its doors in the fall of 2014, marking the completion of the first construction phase.

The unique museum will be Palestine’s first energy-efficient green building. Striving for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver rating, the Palestinian Museum will work with the Palestine Green Building Council to assure that it implements and adheres to green building design guidelines set by LEED. 

The consumption of water and energy in the museum's building will be minimized by 23% by using green solutions in design and constructions. According to Engineer Badawi Qawasmi, a founding member of the Council, the Museum building's orientation will enable it to maintain adequate and comfortable temperatures in both summer and winter seasons.

Green solutions include collecting rainwater from the rooftop of the building in large water containers for reuse. Solar energy will be used to heat water for public use, while wastewater will be refined and reused for irrigating the gardens based on an automatically controlled water system. Qawasmi also added, “the Museum aims to create a healthy environment that is ideal for both visitors and staff by introducing methods and procedures to reduce the rates of toxic substances that exist in various types of paint, carpets and concrete, which vaporize in certain temperatures and affect breathing and therefore health." Other Palestinian Museums

Palestine is rich in museums; it has more than 40 museums in the West Bank as well as Gaza Strip. Some are rather small, focusing on ethnographic and archaeological elements.

There are also several Palestinian museums outside Palestine, including The Palestine Museum in Cape Town, South Africa, The Museum of Palestinian Heritage in Tyre, Lebanon, The Museum of Heritage and Memory in Shatila Camp, Lebanon, The Palestine Museum of Contemporary Art in Tehran, Iran and The Russian Palestine Museum in Moscow, Russia.

Source : http://www.onislam.net