Palestinian Heritage Center
{{Short description|Cultural center in Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = Palestinian Heritage Center
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| image = PHC exterior.JPG
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| size = 250px
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| caption = The entrance to the Palestinian Heritage Center in Bethlehem
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| formation = 1991
| native_name = مركز التراث الفلسطيني
| native_name_lang = ar
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| type = Cultural center
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| purpose = Tourism, preservation, education
| headquarters = Bethlehem
| location = West Bank, Palestine
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| leader_title = Founder
| leader_name = Maha Saca
| leader_title2 = Director
| leader_name2 = Maha Saca
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| website = http://www.palestinianheritagecenter.com
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The Palestinian Heritage Center ({{langx|ar|مركز التراث الفلسطيني}}) is a Palestinian cultural center{{Cite web |title=Heritage Centers in Palestine – Bethlehem University |url=https://www.bethlehem.edu/ic/gntcph/heritage-centers-in-palestine/ |access-date=2025-02-22 |language=en-US}} located in Bethlehem, established in 1991 by Palestinian researcher Maha Saca.{{Cite web |title=The Palestinian Museum Digital Archive - أرشيف المتحف الفلسطيني الرقمي : External collection : The Maha Saca Collection [0027] |url=https://palarchive.org/index.php/Detail/collections/239/lang/en_US# |access-date=2025-02-22 |website=palarchive.org}} The center states that their objective is "to preserve and promote Palestinian cultural heritage, such as authentic dresses, jewelry, furniture, rare pieces, and household items, as well as the art of embroidery."{{cite web |title=Palestinian Heritage Center: Objectives |url=http://www.palestinianheritagecenter.com/index.php/objectives}}
The center contains exhibitions of cultural items, as well as allowing tourists to design and purchase their own traditional gowns and embroidery, produced by women from villages and refugee camps surrounding Bethlehem.{{Cite web |title=Palestinian Heritage Center: Art & Crafts |url=https://www.mahmiyat.ps/en/ecotourism/2937.html |access-date=2025-02-22 |website=Mahmiyat |language=en}} Also produced are postcards made from the museum's photographic collection, incorporating regional Palestinian dress in the images. The museum has collaborated with international institutions for educational exhibitions, such as at the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago from 2006-2007.{{Cite web |title=Embroidering Identities:A Century of Palestinian Clothing {{!}} Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures |url=https://isac.uchicago.edu/museum-exhibits/special-exhibits/embroidering-identitiesa-century-palestinian-clothing |access-date=2025-02-22 |website=isac.uchicago.edu}}
History
In the 1980s, Maha Saca, born in Bethlehem, found herself drawn to the traditional Palestinian women's thobe and embroidery as a symbol of Palestinian heritage.
"Why the traditional Palestinian dress? This is the dress that girls used to learn to embroider, starting at the very young age of seven years; it is a woman’s traditional wedding dress, the dress of the village from which she was forcefully displaced, and the dress she will wear when she undeniably returns to her home."In 1991, she held her first Palestinian fashion show, and established the Palestinian Heritage Center with the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities later that year. She felt that the center was important for maintaining and preserving the culture and history of Palestine and defending it from cultural appropriation and denial of heritage.{{Cite web |title=Our Heritage, Our Future |url=https://thisweekinpalestine.com/our-heritage-our-future/ |access-date=2025-02-22 |website=This Week in Palestine |language=en-US}}
In October 2009, the Palestinian Heritage Center collaborated with organization Palestinian Children's Home Club to create an 18.1 meters wide and 32.6 meters tall thobe, which was unveiled in the Hussein Stadium in Hebron, hoping to have the dress entered in the Guinness Book of World Records. Saca designed the dress and around 150 women helped create it.{{Cite news |date=2009-10-25 |title=Palestinians make 'largest dress' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8325232.stm |access-date=2025-02-22 |language=en-GB}} The dress was dedicated to late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.{{Cite web |date=November 13, 2009 |title=Report: Palestinians Dedicate 'World's Largest Dress' to Yasser Arafat |url=https://www.haaretz.com/2009-11-13/ty-article/report-palestinians-dedicate-worlds-largest-dress-to-yasser-arafat/0000017f-e608-df2c-a1ff-fe590fc60000 |url-status=live |access-date=February 21, 2025 |website=Haaretz}}
During Pope Francis's visit to Bethlehem in 2014, Saca presented him a scarf designed by her, embroidered with crosses and the Palestinian key of return symbol.{{Cite web |title=The Palestinian Museum Digital Archive - أرشيف المتحف الفلسطيني الرقمي : Still Image : Maha El-Saca with Pope Francis during his visit to Palestine [0027.01.0197] |url=https://palarchive.org/index.php/Detail/objects/81597/lang/en_US |access-date=2025-02-22 |website=palarchive.org |language=en}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{commons category}}
- [http://www.palestinianheritagecenter.com/ Palestinian Heritage Center Homepage]
- [https://www.facebook.com/PalestinianHeritageCenter/ Facebook Page]
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Category:Buildings and structures in Bethlehem
Category:Culture of Palestine (region)