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 Tripoli, Libya at the Granada School. 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.  

Mosaic Games for Children: Fun and Engaging Educational Activities to Protect Libyan Heritage

Prior to the onset of a national lockdown in response to the global pandemic, our colleagues in Libya forged new ground in ASOR’s ongoing “Museum in a Suitcase” project. Funded by the U.S. Embassy to Libya, the U.S. Department of State’s Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP), and the Cultural Antiquities Task Force (CATF), the program’s popularity has driven the team to devise additional outreach activities familiarizing students of diverse ages with the richness of Libyan cultural heritage.

Mosaics like the famous Four Seasons panel at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Cyrene are among the most distinctive works of ancient art in Libya, yet are often difficult to appreciate up close due to their fragility. Inspired by a “Make Your Own Mosaic” kit at the Bardo Museum in Tunis, the team has adapted these materials to the Libyan context and incorporated them into the 23 museum bags in 18 Libyan cities, helping children understand how mosaics are made and giving them a chance to try it themselves.

The team gave these new materials a trial run at the Cultural Heritage Outreach and Awareness event on March 4, 2020 for the fourth grade students at the Granada Elementary School in Tripoli. After a brief explanation of the history of mosaics and their prevalence in Libya, the children were divided into small groups and given the opportunity to assemble a mosaic.

According to the teacher, Ahlam al Waflai, and her aide Reema, the results were amazing. An hour and a half passed quickly, as all of the students were engrossed in selecting the right tesserae to match the pattern. According to Talal Bariun, ASOR’s liaison in Libya, “the atmosphere in the room was calm and harmonious as the students worked together. The students’ eyes lit up as they succeeded in assembling small pieces of stone into very beautiful mosaics.”  The mosaic game offered a hands-on way to teach history, civilization, and archaeology and emphasize the importance of preserving cultural heritage.

Museum in a Suitcase team member Intisar al Arebi describes the history of mosaics and the artistry of their creation to fourth graders in Tripoli.

Students studying materials from the Museum in a Suitcase.

Students working on mosaics in small groups.

Participants in the Cultural Heritage Outreach and Awareness Event at the Granada School in Tripoli.

More updates on Outreach and Awareness One-Day Events will be featured in forthcoming News@ASOR and ANE Today.