The Palestinian Museum announce a collaboration with the V&A to conserve material cultural heritage through a grant from ALIPH Foundation
22 December 2021- Birzeit/Geneva/London: The Palestinian Museum (PM) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) announce their first collaboration on a new project to develop the capacities of the PM collections department, including establishing the first textile conservation studio in Palestine, and to document and conserve Palestinian material heritage endangered by conflict, particularly traditional embroidered dresses (Thobes).
The project will be implemented between January 2022 and December 2023 and is funded by the International alliance for the protection of heritage in conflict areas (ALIPH) with a grant of USD 484,298.
This project will begin with the establishment of the conservation studio in Palestine at the Palestinian Museum in Birzeit, drawing on expertise from the V&A. In parallel, PM conservators will travel to the V&A in London for specialised textile conservation and collections management training. The Museum aspires for this studio to be the first local and regional hub of excellence to meet textile conservation needs. and to provide best practices training to institutional and private Palestinian collectors.
This will enable the PM to document and preserve the Museum’s permanent collection as well as other institutional and individual collections of traditional embroidered dresses (Thobes) and accessories. The PM collection items were generously donated by Palestinian and Arab-American women from the Committee for the Preservation of Palestinian Heritage (CPPH) in the United States, as well as from a collector in France.
As part of this project, the Palestinian Museum designed an educational and public programme, to raise awareness of best practices to protect Palestinian material cultural heritage. This includes specialised workshops, lectures, guided tours, and discussions.
Adila Laïdi-Hanieh, PhD, Director General of the Palestinian Museum, expressed her happiness with the considerable grant from the ALIPH Foundation and the start of the valuable partnership with the V&A.
“This grant is an important support to the Palestinian Museum's methodical work in preserving Palestinian heritage. It is also timely, in light of UNESCO's recent addition of the art of Palestinian embroidery to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. We pay great attention to embroidery and its artistic, material, and historical significance as a crucial component of Palestinian cultural heritage. The Museum has developed over the years several original exhibitions and projects on embroidery. Developing professional and sustainable in-house care capacities for this material heritage, as well as in our communities is a natural next step for the Museum. This grant will allow us to pioneer textiles preservation in Palestine.”
Kate Parsons, Director of Conservation, Collections Care and Access at the V&A, said “We are delighted to be partnering with the Palestinian Museum to share knowledge and develop expertise in textile conservation and wider collections management practice. We look forward to welcoming their team to the V&A in London, and to support the Palestinian Museum in the planning and development of their facilities as part of this valuable project that will work to safeguard Palestinian material cultural heritage”.
The Victoria and Albert Museum, London (V&A) is the world’s leading museum of art, design, and performance with collections unrivalled in their scope and diversity, spanning 5000 years of human creativity. It was established in 1852 to make works of art available to all and to inspire British designers and manufacturers. Today, its purpose is to champion creative industry, inspire the next generation, and spark everyone’s imagination. www.vam.ac.uk
ALIPH Foundation, the International alliance for the protection of heritage in conflict areas, based in Geneva, Switzerland, is the only global fund exclusively dedicated to the protection and rehabilitation of cultural heritage in conflict zones and post-conflict areas. As of December 2021, it is supporting nearly 150 projects in 30 countries. www.aliph-foundation.org
