11/02/2021 – Birzeit: The Palestinian Museum is preparing to bring home 80 legacy Palestinian thobes from the United States, following the success of its first crowdfunding campaign, “Let’s Bring Our Thobes Back Home”, launched in late-November 2020.
Within one month, the campaign succeeded in raising 40,000 US dollars from contributors worldwide via the crowdfunding platform LaunchGood. The fund will be devoted to insuring and transporting the thobes to Palestine.
Three decades ago, 80 traditional embroidered Palestinian thobes and their accessories left Palestine for the United States. They were acquired and preserved by Palestinian- and Arab-American women from the Committee for the Preservation of Palestinian Heritage (CPPH) in Washington DC, who worked tirelessly to present the thobes to the public in exhibitions held across the US.
Arrangements for the shipment of the collection have been made. Upon arrival, the collection will be received by specialised Museum staff, who will conserve and digitise it, prior to preserving it in a safe and specially equipped collections facility as part of the Museum’s permanent collection. These unique pieces of Palestinian material heritage and their stories will be made available to the public through the Museum’s exhibitions, Educational Programme, Digital Archive and other projects. The Museum also plans to present this collection in external exhibitions to be announced soon.
Director General of the Palestinian Museum, Adila Laïdi-Hanieh, PhD, said: “As an independent cultural institution that does not rely on steady revenue, we opted to launch this crowdfunding campaign to cover the cost of insuring these thobes and transporting them home. Despite the difficult economic circumstances caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, we sensed a deep interest in the preservation of Palestinian material heritage among Palestinians and supporters of our cause worldwide. This bolsters our resolve at the Palestinian Museum to continue presenting our projects across the globe with the aim of disseminating the Palestinian narrative.” Laïdi-Hanieh also expressed her appreciation for the support lent to the campaign by Bank of Palestine with their Platinum contribution of 15,000 US dollars, and for the support of the National Beverage Company and their contribution of 5,000 US dollars. She reiterated her gratitude to the women who preserved the thobes and placed their trust in the Palestinian Museum.
For their part, the CPPH Board of Directors thanked the Palestinian Museum and all contributors for making the campaign a success. They expressed their confidence in the Museum’s ability to preserve the thobes and narrate their stories, emphasizing the significance of the Palestinian Museum’s appreciation of the women’s 30-year efforts.