The construction of a $30 million museum dedicated to Palestinian history, culture, and art is slated to open in the West Bank next year, the Welfare Association, the largest Palestinian NGO announced.
The 3,800 square meter museum - which will be located in Birzeit, north of Beit-ul-Moqqadas - will house a series of exhibits aimed at creating a “link between Palestinians in historic Palestine and those living in the diaspora.”
Organizers explained that the institution will be “dedicated to preserving and celebrating the culture, society, and history of Palestine over the past two centuries,” reports artnet.com
The Palestinian Museum’s inaugural exhibition was also revealed. Entitled ‘Never Part’, the show will explore the relationship between “materialism and identity through the most valued possessions of Palestinians” and how they reflect their personal stories and culture.
The opening ceremony of the Palestinian Museum will take place on May 15, 2016. The date coincides with the Nakba, or “catastrophe” in Arabic. It refers to the day when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced into exile as a result of the conflict that accompanied the creation of Israel in 1948.
Today, under half of the 12 million Palestinians in the world live in the West Bank, East Beit-ul-Moqqadas, and the Gaza Strip. The remaining six million live abroad, including an estimated 5.5 million registered refugees that live in UN-run refugee camps in neighboring Arab countries.
