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Libyan Museum Suitcase: Ghadames One-day Workshop

In partnership with our Libyan colleagues, and with support from the U.S. Department of State’s Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP), the Cultural Antiquities Task Force (CATF), and the U.S. Embassy Libya External Office (LEO), ASOR is bringing a message of hope through Cultural Heritage Volunteer Weekends (“pop-up” events) and through one-day heritage workshops. This essay is an update on a Cultural Heritage Outreach and Awareness Event held in Ghadames, Libya. These one-day workshops utilize museum suitcase “tool kits” that were described in the Libya Museum Suitcase Overview.

Click here for the Arabic version of this article. 

The Museum Suitcase “toolkits” have achieved enormous success in spreading cultural heritage awareness in Benghazi, Sabratha, and Tripoli. The project has now expanded to one of the oldest pre-Saharan cities, Ghadames—located in western Libya, at the intersection of the borders of Tunisia, Libya, and Algeria.

Map source: http://www.dcstamps.com/ghadames-french-occupation/

Ghadames, one of the five UNESCO World Heritage sites in the country, has a rich history, a distinctive mud-brick architecture, and an intangible cultural heritage filled with links to the trans-Saharan caravan trade. It is a perfect site for the museum suitcase project, and several outreach events are planned over the coming months to share this history with a broader public.

Aerial view of the traditional settlements of Ghadames
Students at one of the Cultural Heritage Outreach and Awareness Events in Ghadames using the museum suitcase.

Ahmed Malek is taking the lead on the Museum Suitcase project in Ghadames. Malek has put a great deal of effort into modifying the contents of the museum suitcase and tailoring them to the specific interests of the Ghadames community, including additional materials and objects that present the city’s history and folklore.

Ahmed Malek introducing students to objects in the museum suitcase.
Drawing activities as part of the museum suitcase events.

Malek has developed outreach and education programs for elementary school students to teach them about their cultural heritage, daily life of their ancestors, and historical sites in Ghadames, including a tour of the local museum. Malek has also collaborated with the library of Ghadames to develop an outreach program for students during their winter break.

Students visit the Ghadames museum, one of many local museums in Libya which remain largely closed to the public due to ongoing conflict.

More updates on Outreach and Awareness One-Day Events will be featured in forthcoming News@ASOR and ANE Today. In addition, a Cultural Heritage Volunteer Weekend Event is being planned for mid-February in Sabratha, Libya, and we will provide an update on this weekend event in March, 2020.